Northboro, MA --- The WPI baseball team fell 14-3 to Emerson in NEWMAC action on Tuesday afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex. The Engineers move to 12-13 on the season, 1-5 in NEWMAC play, while the Lions improved to 14-11, 2-4.
The teams split the season series 1-1 with WPI grabbing a 4-1 win on April 4.
Emerson pounded out 14 hits en route to 14 runs in the game, led by three RBI performances from Quinton Copeland (Houston, TX), Matt Nachamie (Merrick, NY), and Nicholas Favazzo (Lexington, MA). Nachamie had three hits in the contest, including a homerun, while Favazzo and Copeland also hit long balls.
AJ Ortega (Syracuse, NY) got the complete-game win, allowing three runs on four hits with seven strikeouts.
For WPI, Jeffrey Brennan (Amsterdam, NY) drove in a pair of runs with a homerun, while Gavin George (Salem, NH) also homered in the loss.
Both teams got the board with two-run shots. WPI's came in the bottom of the first as Brennan launched his team-leading third of the season. The blast came with one out after Zawacki was hit by a pitch. For Emerson, Nachamie tied the game in the top of the second as his third homerun of the year plated Chris Ferara (Coral Springs, FL) who was hit by a pitch.
The Lions broke the 2-2 tie with a run in the top of the third. Thai Morgan (Waldwick, NJ) led off the frame with a double to left center and was advanced to third on a groundout from Copeland. Jake Hatch (Carlisle, MA) then lined out to left for a sac fly that played Morgan to go up 3-2.
Emerson increased its lead to 7-2 with four runs in the top of the fifth inning. A one-out hit by pitch was followed by a Morgan single before Copeland had the big blow in the frame -- a three-run shot for his first homerun of the season. Hatch added a double down the left field line and was driven home by a Ferara single to right before a groundout closed the inning.
WPI got one back in the bottom of the fifth with the help of the long ball again. George had a solo shot, his second of the season, to cut the deficit to 7-3.
Emerson responded with a run in the top of the sixth, putting together a Nachamie single, a Robby Posio (Queens, NY) double, and a Favazzo double to make it 8-3. WPI threw Posio out at home on the play and reliever Jack Gomes (Newport, RI) got the final two outs to keep it a five-run deficit.
However, the Lions put the game away with six runs in the top of the seventh and worked around a George single in the bottom of the inning to nab the win. Hatch led off the frame with a double and was sent home on a single from Loveland. After a line out and a hit by pitch, Nachamie singled to right to make it 10-3. Another two runs scored on a throwing error after a strikeout setting up a two-run homerun from Favazzo to push the final score to 14-3.
WPI has a Friday-Saturday NEWMAC series against Springfield on tap next with Friday's game starting at 3:30pm and Saturday's first pitch coming at noon. Emerson next plays a non-conference battle at Wesleyan on Thursday at 4pm.