BURLINGTON, VT — Jack Birtwell tossed six scoreless innings, Cooper Berry opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the fourth and Shaun McMillan hit his fifth Futures League home run of the season as the Vermont Lake Monsters defeated the Westfield Starfires 4-2 in front of 3,220 at historic Centennial Field on Saturday night.
Birtwell (Gordon), making his first start of the season after five relief appearances, scattered four hits and four walks with one strikeout over his six innings. He allowed a hit and walk over the first three innings before working out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the fourth with a strikeout and flyout. He finished his outing with a groundout to end the sixth with runners on second and third.
After a pair of one-out singles in the first inning, Vermont had just two more hits the rest of the game (both home runs). In the fourth after a walk to Xander Meissner (Bethany Lutheran), Berry lined the first pitch over the fence in right-center to give the Lake Monsters a 2-0 lead.
The added another run in the seventh on a Meissner walk, hit batter, sacrifice bunt and a Conner Vercollone (Saint Bonaventure) RBI groundout. McMillan made it 4-0 in the eighth with a solo homer to left, tying him for the league-lead in home runs.
MONSTER PERFORMANCE
* Birtwell (W) 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 1 SO
* Zach Davis (Bryant/Colchester, VT) 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
* McMillan 2-for-4, solo HR
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
* Vermont (14-8) has now won 4 straight games and are 6-0 vs. Westfield this season
* Berry’s home run was the 5th homer of the season for the Lake Monsters and the only one not by McMillan
* First time Vermont has hit 2 home runs in a game since June 1, 2024 vs. Brockton (Wyatt Patchett and Jeter Polledo)
* Davis tossed a scoreless 7th and 8th innings, working a 1-2-3 7th and striking out 2 in the 8th
* Westfield scored its 2 runs in the 9th off Sean Gamble (Bethany Lutheran) on an RBI double and RBI single
Next Game: Sunday vs. Nashua, 5:05pm
Promotion: Block Party, Baseball Card Giveaway, Post-Game Kids Run Bases/Have A Catch