Springfield, MA --- Nick Bean (Middleboro, MA) and  Daniel Thomas (Manchester, NH) drove in four of the seven WPI runs as the Engineers downed Springfield 7-5 in a NEWMAC baseball contest on Friday. WPI ends a seven game slide and improves to 5-10 and 1-3 in league play, while Springfield evens out at 6-6 and is 0-2 in the conference.

Thomas and Bean registered a pair of hits for the Engineers, while Bean drove in three runs and Thomas crossed the plate twice. Starter Sean Minor (Sherman Oaks, CA) was victorious as he hurled seven innings of five-hit ball, allowing four runs, one of which was earned.Shane Sampson (Worcester, MA) came in to pick up the save as he pitched the final inning, giving up just one hit.  

Leading Springfield at the plate was Sean Smith (Broken Arrow, OK), who went 2-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Mark Grant (Danbury, CT) was charged with the loss as he lasted 5.1 innings, allowing five runs, three earned, off five hits while striking out four and walking three. Darryl Smith (Patchogue, NY) pitched the final 3.2 innings, allowing two earned runs off two hits.                                                                     

WPI scored first in the second inning as Thomas led off the frame with a walk before coming home to score on a Bean single.     

Springfield answered back with two runs in the bottom half for their only lead of the ballgame. Kyle DiFranco (East Longmeadow, MA) scored on a Smith fielder's choice and Smith would later cross the plate on an Engineer error.                                                  

The Engineers broke open the game in the sixth with four runs off just two hits. The key hit came when Bean roped a double, scoring a pair, and ultimately chasing Grant from the game. 

The teams would trade a pair of runs in the seventh. Thomas belted an RBI double and Bryan Watkins (Belmont, MA) followed with an RBI single for the visitors, while Springfield scored a pair of unearned runs by Smith and John Schmaltz (Cromwell, CT).

Springfield tacked on the final run of the ball game in the eighth as Smith's single scored Michael Micik (Greenwich, CT), who had originally reached on a WPI error.

Both teams head to Wachusett Regional High School to complete the three-game weekend series with a doubleheader beginning at 12pm.

Release Courtesy Springfield Sports Information