Springfield, Mass. - April 9, 2015 - Despite two RBI from senior infielder Brent Poulin (Atascadero, Calif.), the Springfield College Baseball team surrendered five runs in the top of the ninth inning to Westfield State, as the Pride fell to the Owls 8-2 in its home opener.

With the loss, Springfield falls to 2-14 on the season, while Westfield State improves to 11-3.

Junior Jack Baldwin (Westhampton, Mass.) got the nod for Springfield, pitching 7.0 innings, giving up 11 hits, three runs, while striking out two. Freshman Jack Weinberger (Sunapee, N.H.) came on in relief, pitching 1.2 innings, giving up three hits, four runs and striking out one. Luke Brown (Winter Garden, Fla.) came in to get the final out, a strikeout.

For the Owls, Nate Barnes (Westfield, Mass.) started and picked up his first victory of the season, throwing 6.0 innings, allowing two hits, one run and striking out eight, while Chris Servello (Easton, Mass.) pitched 1.0 innings, giving up one hit, one run and walking one. Justin Thomson (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) pitched 1.0 innings, giving up a pair of hits and striking out one, before Pete Liimatainen (West Barnstable, Mass.) came on in the final inning to finish off the game.

Westfield State struck in the top of the first inning when Stephen Brown (Harwich, Mass.) cracked a single to right-center that scored Tim Santilli (Southbridge, Mass.) from second base to give the Owls a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the second, Poulin blasted a ball down the left-field line that cleared the fence to help the Pride pull even at one.

In the top of the fifth inning, Pat McWilliams doubled, before moving to third on a single from Santilli. The next batter, Danny DiMatteo (Dennis, Mass.) then blasted a shot to center, that was caught, but it scored McWilliams to give the Owls a one-run lead.

Westfield State added to its lead in the sixth, when Kyle Murphy (Westfield, Mass.) beat out a double play, scoring Tyler Adams (West Barnstable, Mass.) to extend the Owls' lead to two. Poulin then helped the Pride cut its deficit to one when he pulled a single through the short stop and third baseman, scoring Billy Peterson (Wareham, Mass.) from third to make it 3-2, Westfield State.

Brown picked up his second RBI of the game in the top of the ninth inning, as he smacked a single to right, scoring Connor Sheridan (South Hadley, Mass.) from second to give the Owls a 4-2 lead. With the bases loaded, Dan Whigham (Barre, Mass.) hit a base-clearing double to push Westfield State's lead to five, before Dan McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) walked, scoring Whigham from third to make it 8-2, Owls.

Up next, Springfield will travel to play a NEWMAC West game with Clark University on Friday at 3:30 p.m.