AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Husson University baseball team delivered head coach Jason Harvey '06 his 200th career victory with a doubleheader sweep of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Wednesday afternoon at Lake Myrtle Park #7. The Eagles won the first game 6-5 and the nightcap 8-3.
Husson (2-3) picked up their first two wins of the season while WPI (2-4) dropped their first games to the Eagles since 2011 and falls to 2-3 in the all-time series.
Harvey became the second head coach in program history to achieve 200 wins (John Kolasinski '85) and the third active head coach at Husson to join the 200 win club (Kissy Walker and Warren Caruso '89,'03).
Game 1: Husson 6, WPI 5
Alex Venditti's double to right field drove in Nick Comei with two outs in the first while Comei's three-run shot to left field in the third gave the Engineers the 4-0 lead.
Husson cut the deficit in half with an RBI double by Mike Wong followed by a run-producing single by JT Whitten in the bottom of the third. The Eagles pulled within a run in the fifth when Julien Boone singled through the right side scoring Alex Chapman and took the lead on a Zach Sugar two-run shot to left field in the sixth.
Comei leveled the game at 5-5 with a one-out RBI single in the top of the seventh only to have Husson walk off with the 6-5 victory to give Harvey his 199th career win thanks to an RBI knock to right center by Conor Maguire.
Venditti doubled and Evan Lacroix was credited with a sacrifice. Mike Duclos totaled five runs on nine hits with five Ks and a walk. Dan Bettigole surrendered one run on three hits and a walk in the decision.
For the Eagles, Wong was 3-for-4 with two runs, a two-bagger and an RBI; Whitten went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI and Sugar was 2-for-3 with a run, a four-bagger and two RBI. Chapman, Boone, Sam Huston, Maguire and Andrew Curran accounted for the Eagles other five hits in the victory. Brandon Reilly went the distance to pick up his 13th career win after allowing five runs (4 earned) on eight hits, walked one and fanned six in his 2016 season debut.
Game 2: Husson 8, WPI 3
Husson get on the board first with a pair in the second on a sacrifice fly by Sam Huston and a double to right center by Curran. WPI made it a one-run ballgame as Connor Kurtz came home on an infield miscue. The Eagles then added three more in the fourth on Sugar's second homerun of the day, two more in the fifth when Wong scored on a wild pitch and Whitten scored on a walk to Huston and one more in the sixth on a wild pitch that plated Curran.
Kurtz homered in the fifth and Vinny D'Ambrosio scored on a Venditti ground out in the sixth. The Engineers went down in order in the seventh for Coach Harvey's 200th win.
D'Ambrosio added a double as five WPI pitchers saw time on the mound – Sam Bacchaocchi, Drew Gelinas, Tom McCarthy, Adam Bettigole and Robert Chase. As a staff, the Engineers totaled eight strikeouts with Bacchaocchi leading the way with four.
For the Eagles, Wong was 2-for-4 with a run, Ryan Rebar went 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs and Curran was 2-for-4 with a run, a two-bagger and an RBI. Whitten, Maguire and Sugar accounted for the Eagles other three hits in the victory. Dan Whitney went the distance to pick up the win after allowing three runs (2 earned) on four hits and fanned six.
Husson faces Montclair State for a single game tomorrow at 4pm and WPI is off Thursday before taking on Keene State twice on Friday beginning at 1pm.