BURLINGTON, VT — The Westfield Starfires scored a pair of runs in the first and third innings for a 4-0 lead and held on after a Dawson Bryce two-run homer in the ninth for Vermont to beat the Lake Monsters 4-2 in Futures League action Sunday evening at historic Centennial Field.
Westfield loaded the bases on a walk, single and walk to open the game before taking a 2-0 lead on an RBI groundout and sacrifice fly off Vermont starter Hayden Mutz (AIC). The Starfires opened the third inning with a Colin Larson triple and RBI double from Sam Morris, who then scored on a wild pitch/throwing error.
Vermont was held without a run until the ninth when Tyler Favretto (Kansas Wesleyan) walked for the third time in the game and Bryce (Merrimack) followed with his first home run of the season to cut the deficit in half, but that was as close as the Lake Monsters (6-7) could get.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
* Bryce 1-for-5, R, HR, 2 RBI
* Favretto 1-for-2, 3 BB, R
* Matt Minio (New Haven) 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
* 6 Vermont relievers combined for 7 scoreless innings on 2 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts
* After coming on the 3rd with runner on 1st and 0 outs, Minio induced a double play and then retired the next four batters for two scoreless innings
* 5 other relievers tossed 1 scoreless inning, including Vermont debut for Brandon Morio (Trinity U)
* Lake Monsters left 12 runners on base, including bases loaded in 4th and 8th innings
BEYOND BOXSCORE
* The Bryce home run was the 8th of the season for Vermont with 5 players hitting 1 homer and Wyatt Patchett (Le Moyne) with 3 HR
* 10 of the 18 strikeouts (9 each team) were called third strikes
* The loss snapped a Vermont 6-game winning streak vs. Westfield dating back to June 4, 2023
Next Game: Tuesday, 6:35pm vs. Norwich
Broadcast: Streaming on FCBLnetwork.com and live on WYCI-TV