WESTFIELD, MA — After spotting Westfield two runs in bottom of the first inning and trailing 2-0 after three, the Vermont Lake Monsters scored 10 unanswered runs to complete a two-game sweep of the FCBL semifinal series vs. the Starfires with a 10-2 victory at Bullens Field Tuesday night. The Lake Monsters will host Nashua in game one of the Futures League best-of-three Championship Series on Wednesday.

Tickets for game one of the FCBL finals are on sale now 24/7 at www.vermontlakemonsters.com. Starting at 11:00am on Wednesday, tickets can also be purchased by phone (802-655-4200) or in person at the Centennial Field Ticket Office. Gates will open at 5:30pm with first pitch scheduled for 6:35pm.

Vermont had just one walk over first 2 2/3 innings before pair of two-out singles in third. Lake Monsters then opened the fourth with a walk and single before a Kyle Hoog (Northeastern) RBI single and Harrison Didawick (Virginia) RBI double tied the game 2-2. Didawick scored the go ahead run on a wild pitch, the first of four Vermont runs that scored on Westfield wild pitches, for a 3-2 advantage.

The Lake Monsters broke the game open in the sixth with four runs, including an RBI ground-rule double from Yale’s Tommy Martin (4-for-5, HBP, 2 runs) and Jimmy Evans (Tufts) RBI single for an 8-2 advantage. Vermont added two more runs in the ninth on a Evans bases loaded walk and Hoog RBI groundout.

After allowing two runs on three hits with a walk in the bottom of the first innings, Francis Ferguson (Eastern Nazarene) settled down to toss four scoreless innings through the fifth. The left-hander finished with six hits allowed, the one walk and eight strikeouts over five innings to earn the victory, while Silas Reed (Tufts) 1 hit and five strikeouts in three scoreless innings before Evan Clark (USC) closed out the series with two strikeouts in the ninth.

Monster Performances
Francis Ferguson 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 SO
Tommy Martin 4-for-5, HBP, 2 R, 2B, RBI
Gio Cueto 3-for-5, 1 BB, 2 R

Monster Highlights
* Lake Monsters collected 14 hits, 12 walks and 2 hit batters (all but 1 walk and 2 hits coming final 6 innings)
* Tyler Favretto (Crowder) and Brian Schuab (Trinity) both had 3 walks and 1 base hit
* Top 3 VT batters in order (Martin, Favretto, Cueto) combined 8-for-13, 4 walks, 1 HBP and 6 runs (2 each)
* Hoog 2-for-5 with 2 RBI and Didawick 2-for-5 with a run, double, RBI
* Vermont pitchers combined for 2 walks and 15 strikeouts

Beyond The Boxscore
* Vermont 4-0 in FCBL semifinal games and Lake Monsters now 11-2 in semifinal games in 28-year history (have won 5 of 6 semifinal series, all 5 being 2-0 sweeps)
* Vermont has trailed at some point in 25 of its 46 wins combined in regular-season and playoffs
* Lake Monsters have now scored 10 or more runs in a game 15 times and 7+ runs in 33 of 65 games played
* Vermont won season series vs. Nashua 7-5 (4-3 at Centennial and 3-2 at Nashua)

Next Game: 6:35pm Wednesday at Centennial
Game 1 Championship Series vs. Nashua