WESTFIELD, Mass. – Junior transfers John Lippincott and Alex Lafayette both homered as Westfield State hammered their way past Western New England, 13-5 in a key New England Regional non-conference baseball game at Trelease Park on Saturday afternoon.
Westfield (27-6) was ranked seventh in New England in this week's NCAA Advisory Poll, while Western New England (21-14) ranked 14th in the poll.
Lippincott came to the Owls via Division I Central Connecticut State, while Lafayette spent two years at Division II American International College.
Westfield scored first with Arismendy Larancuent's second-inning single scoring Lafayette to give the Owls a 1-0 lead. Westfield struck for three more runs in the third with Lippincott blasting a 2-run homer to right field to put the Owls on top of the Golden Bears by a 4-0 score.
After Western New England got a run back in the bottom half of the third inning, Westfield answered again with an RBI single from Anthony Crowley and run scoring sacrifice fly from Dan Rokitowski.
Lafayette led off the top of the fifth with solo shot to center field, and the Owls tacked on three more runs for an 11-1 lead through five innings.
Aaron Clancy and Tyler Beach each rapped three hits to help lead the Owls offensive attack. Starting pitcher Matt Nunes (6-1) allowed five hits through six innings to get the win for the Owls.
Western New England starter Jake Kawiecki was saddled with the loss after allowing 12 hits and seven earned runs through 4.2 innings. Kevin Johnson had three of the Golden Bears eight hits.
Westfield State will be back in action at home tomorrow, hosting Williams College in a non-conference game at Bud and Jim Hagan Field at 3:00 p.m.