BURLINGTON, VT — The Westfield Starfires rallied from a four-run deficit with five unearned runs in the top of the eighth inning for a 7-6 lead, then after Vermont tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, scored three more times for a 10-7, 10-inning victory in the Lake Monsters 2022 Futures League home opener at historic Centennial Field Friday night.
Vermont trailed 2-1 with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning when they strung together six straight hits, including RBI doubles from George Cooper (Harvard) and Donovan Montgomery (Siena) to plate five runs for a 6-2 lead.
The lead stayed 6-2 until the eighth when the Starfires scored the five unearned runs. The first came on a throwing error after a pair of walks to start the inning by reliever Colton Regen (Vanderbilt), who settled down to record a pair of strikeouts before back-to-back two-out, two-run RBI singles from Cavan Brady and Luca Giallongo gave Westfield the lead.
Vermont was able to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth on a Cooper two-out RBI single to send the teams to the 10th inning for the second straight day, but the Starfires scored three times (only one earned) in the 10th including two runs scoring on a Giallongo infield single and Vermont throwing error.
Monster Performances
* Tim Noone 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
* George Cooper 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Game Highlights
* Vermont’s 6 straight 1-out hits bottom 4th were Connor Bowman (Tufts) single, Jordan Kelly (Princeton) single, George Cooper RBI double, Jackson Kline (Kansas) single to load bases, Donovan Montgomery 2-round double and Jimmy Evans (Tufts) RBI single.
* Game stayed 6-2 until top 8th inning when Westfield scored 5 unearned runs, including a pair of 2-out, 2-run singles for 7-6 lead.
* Vermont tied game bottom 9th on 2-out RBI single from George Cooper to score Ryan Marra (Brown), who had singled with 1 out
* Lake Monsters starter Tim Noone allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in the top of the 4th during his 6-inning outing
Beyond The Boxscore
* 1st time in Lake Monsters 28-year history that the first 2 games of the season have gone to extra-innings
* Vermont starting pitchers (Sean Matson, Tim Noone) have combined to allow 2 R (1 ER) on 5 H with 2 BB, 14 SO over 10 innings in first 2 games.
* 8 of the 10 runs scored by Westfield were unearned due to the 3 Lake Monster errors in the game
* Vermont is now 13-15 all-time in home lidlifters
Next Game: Saturday, May 28th vs. New Britain, 6:05