Springfield, Mass. – March 2, 2024 – The Springfield College baseball team fell twice to crosstown rival Western New England University in an abbreviated doubleheader this afternoon on Archie Allen Field. The Golden Bears game one by a score of 13-8 and the nightcap by a 12-3 final.
Springfield dropped to 1-2 after today's action, while Western New England moved to 2-3 on the year. Springfield will return to action tomorrow with a non-conference twinbill against Westfield State beginning at 12:00 pm.
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Game One:
Luke DiMauro (Haddam, Conn.) guided Springfield's offense in the opener with a 4-for-4 effort at the plate to go along with two RBI, while
Nate Garafalo (Kinderhook, N.Y.) also drove in a pair of runs for the Pride. Western New England's Trae Young and Jack Loftus combined to go 3-for-8 with seven RBI. The top six batters in the Golden Bears lineup posted at least one hit in the first game today.
Springfield put up four runs on just one hit in the bottom of the first for the early edge as
Michael Barrett (Longmeadow, Mass.) grounded out to drive in
Joe Travera (Pittsfield, Mass.), Garafalo worked a bases loaded walk,
Adam Crocker (Windsor, Nova Scotia) plated
Ryan Sorgi (Braintree, Mass.) on a sacrifice fly and DiMauro drove in
Cole Zalegowski (North Haven, Conn.) on a double to the gap. A hard hit infield single by DiMauro in the bottom of the third grew Springfield's lead to 5-0 through three.
Western New England sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of the fourth as the visitors put up a ten spot to erase the deficit. An RBI triple by Sean Jamieson began the scoring, an RBI single by Andrew Florek produced Western New England's second run before a bases loaded walk and a bases clearing triple by Trae Young gave the visitors a 6-5 edge. With two outs in the inning, Jack Loftus stepped to the plate and blasted a grand slam over the fence in left to complete the rally.
An RBI double from Traversa got one back for the Pride in the fifth, but it wasn't enough as Western New England took the opener 13-8.
Sean Hogan earned the win for Western New England on 3.1 innings out of the pen.
Game Two:
In a rain shortened game, Springfield once again had an early lead as Traversa scored on a sacrifice fly in the first and DiMauro crossed the plate on an RBI single from
Jack Dunaisky (Longmeadow, Mass.) in the second. From that point on, Western New England's offense came alive and eight unanswered runs and 12 of the final 13 runs of the game to complete the sweep.
A two run double down the right field line by Cody Waterbury and a single to left by Loftus accounted for Western New England's three run third, before a pair of fifth inning round trippers extended the visitors lead to 6-2. Five of the Golden Bears final six runs came on bases loaded walks as Springfield's bullpen couldn't get the job done with the Pride surrendering 19 free passes on the day.
Jared Kuryan was solid on the bump for Western New England as he picked up the win with four strikeouts, two hits and two earned runs in five frames.
