WESTFIELD, Mass. – Freshman Jacob Rand pitched eight shutout innings to lead Westfield State College to its ninth straight victory, a 1-0 decision over Nichols College on Thursday afternoon. Sophomore George Sergi (Blackstone, Mass.) continued his hot hitting and was 2-for-3 for the Bison.

The streaking Owls improved to 13-5 while the Bison dip to 7-11 on the year. The non-conference game vs. Nichols took one hour and 58 minutes to complete.  

Rand allowed five hits and two walks and struck out four in his eight-inning stint. Prior to the game he had pitched two and two-thirds innings for the Owls. Junior Dave Glass pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his second save.

Westfield scored the game's only run in the third inning. Mike Trachtenberg beat out a one-out bunt single and stole second base. He scored on freshman Alex Xiarhos' single thru the right side.

Nichols did not have a batter reach third base the entire game. In the sixth, however, Al Montalto (Wilmington, Mass.) rapped a one-out single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Austin Martin (Wakefield, R.I.) hit a comebacker to the mound and Montalto broke for third base. Rand threw high to third base and Montalto was safe. However, Montalto overslid the bag and was tagged out by third baseman Jeff Ackerman for a key out number two.

Nichols sophomore Matthew Whitman (North Plainfield, N.J.) pitched a complete game, allowing nine hits and no walks and striking out four. Both teams did not commit an error in the tidy, sub-two-hour game.

Brad King clubbed two doubles for the Owls and Ben Campbell had a double and single. Hot-hitting junior shortstop Ben Wagner was 2-for-4.

Nichols returns to action on Saturday when they host New England College for a noon doubleheader.

Story courtesy Westfield State Sports Information

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