BASEBALL
Westfield Technical Academy 4,
Pathfinder Regional 2
WESTFIELD – A no-hitter … a walk-off victory in extra innings … and now a 16-strikeout outing from Westfield Technical Academy ace pitcher Riley Sullivan.
Sullivan followed up pitching a no-no in a high school baseball season opener by striking out 16 Pathfinder batters in a two-hitter Thursday at Bullens Field. The Tigers defeated the Pioneers, 4-2, to remain perfect.
“I was just focused,” said Sullivan, who improved to 2-0 on the mound for Westfield Tech. “I was pumped about this game. I didn’t know I was going to be pitching ahead of time. Once I found out, I really wanted to get in the zone so that’s what I did.”
Pathfinder got to Sullivan early, driving in a first-inning run on a Jordan Talbot run-scoring triple.
Westfield Technical Academy’s Josh Sturmer helped out his teammate, manufacturing a game-tying run in the bottom half of the first by walking, stealing second based, advancing to third base on a passed ball and scoring on a two-out wild pitch.
Westfield Tech kept up its opportunistic play.
James Coach led off the bottom of the second inning with a walk. Coach moved to second on a passed ball. With two outs, Tobey Barlow lofted the ball high into the air just beyond the basepaths in center field. Pathfinder’s shortstop backpedaled in hopes of tracking the ball down, but it popped out of his glove and onto the grass for the Tigers go-ahead run.
The lead was short-lived.
Pathfinder took advantage of a well-hit ball to right center field in the top of the third inning that resulted in an error, and soon thereafter, a Tom Swift double to deep right center field that tied the game at 2-2.
Westfield Tech regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Dacota Durkee singled, stole second, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a wild pitch. The Tigers led 3-2.
Sullivan got into a bit of a jam in the fourth inning, some of which was his own doing when he overthrew second base on a force out instead of opting to go to first base for the second out of the inning. Unshaken, Sullivan came back to strike out the next two batters to end the inning.
Even his head coach, Bob Eak, was impressed.
“He’s rolling,” coach Eak said of his senior ace. “His off field preparation has been very good. In between starts he’s been running, doing a lot of stretching, a lot of band work.”
Westfield Tech’s Brody Zabielski made sure his fellow Tigers mates would come away victorious. Zabielski knocked in an insurance run in the fifth on a hard hit ball to the shortstop, who misplayed the ball, allowing a runner to cross home plate.
“We were aggressive on the basepaths. We took advantage of the opportunities they gave us on the basepaths. We did make some mistakes on the basepaths, but that didn’t really hurt us too much,” Eak said.
Westfield Tech will look to extend its winning streak when it travels to Franklin Tech Tues., May 18 at 4 p.m.