Worcester, MA --- Visiting WPI banged out 14 hits and scored three or more runs in three different innings en route to a 13-8 win over Clark in NEWMAC baseball action on Wednesday afternoon at Granger Field. The Engineers improve to 10-13 overall and an impressive 6-4 in league play, while the Cougars dip to 12-11 and just 2-8 in conference action.
Sophomore Daniel Thomas (Manchester, NH) paced the WPI offense with a 3-for-5 day and four RBI, while senior Bryan Watkins (Belmont, MA) was 3-for-4 with two RBI.
Clark opened the scoring in the second when Shawn Lamothe (Bellingham, MA) blasted his third homerun of the season for a 1-0 lead.
The Engineers responded with five runs in the top of the third with the help of a pair of Cougar miscues. Shane Sampson (Worcester, MA) scored on an Alex Posch (Hopedale, MA) double to even the score and then came around to score on double by Nick Bean(Middleboro, MA). RBI singles by both Thomas and Watkins made the score 4-1 and then a sacrifice fly by John Flynn (Albion, ME) ended the inning's scoring.
Clark got a run back on a homerun by Peter Lewis (Gardiner, ME) in the bottom of the frame, then crept closer after Scott Hollingsworth (Tilton, NH) led off the fourth inning with a triple to center and scored on a single by Nicholas Flemister (Pittsford, NY).
WPI was back at it in the fifth, plating three runs on a Flynn groundout, a Sampson RBI single and a Posch double to make the score 8-3.
The lead moved to 10-3 when Thomas connected for a two-run homer in the seventh and then ballooned to 13-3 when Mitch McClune (Pembroke, MA) connected for an RBI single and then scored when Thomas tripled to right field. Thomas then scored on a Watkins sacrifice fly.
The Cougars mounted a rally in the bottom of the eighth when they scored five runs on four hits highlighted by run-scoring hits by Nicholas Kellogg (Florence, MA), Lamothe and Jeremy Gerber (Amherst, MA)
In the end, however, it wasn't enough as Engineer starter Sean Minor (Sherman Oaks, CA) went the first seven-plus innings, scattering eighth hits, while striking out seven and walking just one. Reliever Brandon Boucher (Manchester, NH), tossed the final two innings, allowing just one hit.
Lewis led the Cougar offense with a 3-for-4 performance, while Lamothe went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.
Derek Dubois (Haverhill, MA) took the loss for Clark, going five innings and giving up eight runs – only three of which were earned.
The two teams will meet again on Thursday at Clark's Granger Field at 3:30pm with WPI as the home team.
Release Courtesy Clark Sports Information