Lowell Drops Fourth Straight in 9-3 Loss to Westfield

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A Rocky Start in the Mill City

It is certainly not the start to the season the Lowell Spinners (0-4) were envisioning. On Sunday night at LeLacheur Park, in front of a dedicated crowd of 1,881 fans, the Spinners dropped their fourth consecutive game, falling 9–3 to the Westfield Starfires.

The sluggish performance prompted a closed-door team meeting called by Manager Kevin Graber immediately following the final out. The Starfires (3-2) dominated the rhythm of the game, banging out 10 hits and scoring in five of the nine innings, building a commanding 6–1 cushion by the end of the third frame.

River Hawks Stand Out: Dunlea Dominates the Mound

The contest featured an intriguing local flavor with three members of the UMass Lowell River Hawks taking the field, each turning in strong individual performances. The brightest star of the trio was Westfield starting pitcher Tyler Dunlea, who made a stellar season debut for the Starfires.

Dunlea commanded the bump for 4.1 innings, surrendered just one hit, and allowed a solitary earned run in the opening frame. In that first inning, Lowell leadoff man Marco Zirpolo doubled to left field, advanced on a groundout, and crossed home plate on a Lorenzo Camilleri sacrifice fly.

Aside from that early blemish, Dunlea was in complete control. He retired 11 of the next 12 batters he faced, striking out four without issuing a single walk. He finished his night with six groundouts and three flyouts, marking his finest performance of the entire calendar year, including his collegiate season.

Early Trouble Cruises Starfires to Big Lead

Ian Keusch (0-2, Brown University) took the mound for his second start of the summer for Lowell. While Keusch gave the Spinners some much-needed length by grinding through 5.0 innings, Westfield managed to scratch across runs in three of those frames.

First Inning: Westfield’s Vance Bonior led off with a double to right field. Two batters later, Nic Frink (2-for-4) drove him in with an RBI single to right. After a walk to Will Briggs, Anthony Armeria (Bridgeport) laced a blistering two-run double to right-center, scoring both Frink and Briggs to push the score to 3–1.
Second Inning: Aidan Barclay hit a one-out double to left, and Bonior was hit by a pitch. Both runners advanced on a Keusch wild pitch before Barclay scored on an infield groundout. Bonior then capitalized on an infield throwing error by Spinners third baseman Max Dimond (Colby College), making it 5–1.
Third Inning: Back-to-back hits from Briggs and Armeria put the Starfires in business. Though the Spinners’ defense excelled at limiting the damage—turning three double plays on the night—Jack O’Neil (Hobart) managed to crack a run-scoring double to right to extend the lead to 6–1.

Lowell Flashes Life in the Sixth

The Starfires’ bullpen relied on Zack Ruffing (2-0), who earned the victory despite giving up two runs in 2.2 innings of relief work. Both of Lowell’s remaining runs came in the bottom of the sixth frame when the top of the Spinners’ order sparked a rally.

Zirpolo and Cal Chance (UMass Lowell) ignited the crowd with consecutive base hits. Chance put on a baserunning clinic, finishing the night 2-for-4 with two stolen bases and a run scored. The duo executed a flawless double steal to put both runners in scoring position. Zirpolo scored on another sacrifice fly from Camilleri (NJIT), and Chance crossed the plate on an RBI double down the line from Esteban Dessureault, cutting the deficit to 6–3.

Westfield Shuts the Door

Any hopes of a late-inning comeback were quickly extinguished. Westfield added two insurance runs in the seventh inning off Jake Zawatsky (UMass Lowell), who went 2.2 innings allowing three hits and two earned runs while walking two. The Starfires tacked on their final run in the top of the eighth to secure the 9–3 victory.

Game at a Glance

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Westfield (3-2)	3	2	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	9	10	0
Lowell (0-4)	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	4	1

Looking Ahead

It will be a grueling, busy week for the Spinners as they look to hit the reset button. The road to redemption starts immediately on Monday night, as Lowell travels to Holman Stadium to face off against their local rivals, the Nashua Silver Knights.