WESTFIELD, MA — The Vermont Lake Monsters collected 10 hits and 13 walks on Saturday night, but left 17 runners on base in a 9-6 loss to the Westfield Starfires in Futures League action at Bullens Field.
Vermont had leads of 2-0 on a Cam Conley (Pepperdine) two-out, two-run single in the top of the first inning and 4-2 in the third after a Charles Crawford (Brown) RBI double, but the Starfires scored four times in the bottom of the third on a pair of two-run singles.
Lake Monsters had runners on in every inning including the bases loaded in the fourth before an inning-ending double play. Westfield added a pair of runs in the sixth before Vermont got back-to-back one-out RBI singles from Tommy Martin (Yale) and Tyler Favretto (Crowder) top of seventh to again cut the deficit to two at 8-6.
Vermont got a pair of one-out walks in the eighth and back-to-back leadoff singles in the ninth, but were unable to advance the runners as the Lake Monsters finished 4-for-21 with runners in scoring position to lose for their second straight night at Westfield.
Monster Performances
Tommy Martin 4-for-5, BB, R, RBI
Tyler Favretto 2-for-4, BB, R, RBI
Chase Carey 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
Monster Highlights
* Martin had singles in 1st, 2nd, 7th and 9th innings extending his hitting streak to 7 straight (11×25) after going 0-for-16 in first 6 games played
* Favretto and Conley both had 2 hits, while Evans and Cooper Kelly (Kansas) both walked 3 times
* Chase Carey (Colchester/UMass-Dartmouth) made 1st appearance since June 22nd, tossing 2 scoreless innings
* Westfield outhit Vermont 14-10 and finished with just 5 runners left on base
Beyond The Boxscore
* Vermont (39-17), which has already locked up the top seed in the FCBL playoffs, has lost 3 of its last 5 games
* Lake Monster pitchers had 10 strikeouts, the 36th time in 56 games they have recorded 10+ strikeouts (opponents just 16 games with 10+ strikeouts)
Next Game: Sunday at Pittsfield, 4:05pm
Next Home Game: Thursday vs. Worcester, 6:35pm