WESTFIELD, MA -- Baseball traveled to Westfield on Friday afternoon to play the Owls in the first game of a three-game conference series. Coming into the game, Westfield was sporting a 3-0 record after sweeping Fitchburg State last weekend with the Bucs coming in at 2-1 after their series win over Framingham last week. The Bucs offense exploded for 11 runs and the pitching and defense held off the Owls to win, 11-9, going into the Saturday doubleheader at the Academy.

The Basics

Final: Buccaneers 11, Owls 9

Records: Maritime (10-9, 3-1)

              Westfield (11-7, 3-1)

On The Mound

Maritime: Justin Brown (W, 2-1): 7.2 IP | 9 H | 7 R | 6 ER | 2 BB | 4 K

               Brendan Baiardi (Sv, 3): 1.1 IP | 1 H | 1 R | 1 ER | 1 BB | 1 K

Westfield: Joseph Fischer (L, 0-1): 1.1 IP | 5 H | 6 R | 6 ER | 3 BB | 0 K

At The Plate

Maritime

• AJ Pietrafesa and Brett Velzis tallied three hits each in the win. One of Velzis's hits was a triple.
• Aidan Henderson and A.J. Luciano both had two hits, including one double for Henderson and two two-baggers for Luciano.
• Henderson drove in four runs; Pietrafesa, Velzis, Luciano and John Tropea all drove in two.
• Michael Doyle worked three walks, Zach Sylvia drew two.
• Sylvia scored three times. Pietrafesa and Velzis each scored twice.

Westfield

• Max Silverman had three hits to lead the Owls. 
• Samuel Palmeri and Damien Maniscalco both had two hits.
• Ethan Day and Silverman drove in two runs.
• Nick Martin, Samuel Palmer, and Silverman all scored twice.
• Day and Zach Graveline both had doubles. 
• Silverman hit a homerun in the loss.
• Martin was the only player with a stolen base.

How It Happened

Maritime came out swinging, scoring a run in the top of the first on a bases loaded hit by pitch of Tropea. The owls tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the frame on a Day sacrifice fly, scoring Martin.

In the top of the second, the Bucs retook the lead and then some. They scored five runs in the inning on singles by Pietrafesa, Velzes, and Henderson, scoring Alex Schlapak, Luciano, Sylvia, Velzis and Pietrafesa.

In the fourth, Henderson drove in two more runs after doing so in the second, this time on a double to left field scoring Doyle and Velzis. The Bucs took an 8-1 lead into the fifth.

Thanks to a Velzis triple in the top of the fifth, Maritime opened the score to 9-1. In the bottom of the fifth, the hosts scored two on a Silverman homer and Graveline's double to cut the deficit to six, 9-3.

The Bucs got a run back in the top of the sixth on a Luciano double, and another in the top of the seventh on a Tropea single.

Down 11-3, the Owls bats came alive in the eighth for a five run rally. One run scored on a Day ground out, the second on a sacrifice fly, another on a single and two more on a Buccaneer error to make it 11-8.

In the ninth, the Buccaneers surrendered one more run on a Silverman ground out. Then, Baiardi plugged the leak to finish the game off and bring a Maritime W back to Buzzards Bay, 11-9.

What's Next

the Buccaneers and Owls meet again on Saturday to close out their three game series with a doubleheader at Hendy Field beginning at 1pm.