NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. - The Nichols College baseball team fell 11-7 to WPI in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex.
 
Senior Matt Hardy (North Attleboro, Mass.) reached base in every plate appearance (4-for-4 with a walk) – scoring once and driving in a run – while freshman Kyle Bouchard (Fall River, Mass.) finished the game with three hits to lead the Bison.
 
Senior Nick Comei (Haverhill, Mass.) paced the Engineers going 5-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI's – including a solo homerun in the eighth inning to put WPI up 9-6. Sophomore Ryan Tropeano (Pembroke, Mass.) and junior Matt Howard (Worcester, Mass.) also had homers for the Engineers.
 
Junior Jackson White (South Dartmouth, Mass.) took the loss for the Bison after being roughed up for six runs  (five earned) through two innings on seven hits before the bullpen came in and allowed just five runs through the final six innings of work.


The Engineers received a solid pitching outing from junior Drew Gelinas (Saco, Maine) – who allowed just two runs through five innings of work to earn his second win of the season.
 
The Bison opened up the scoring in the top of the first when junior Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.) drew a bases loaded walk that scored freshman Christopher Cerniglia (Monroe, N.J.). WPI answered back with three runs in their half of the first before adding another three runs in the second to hold a 6-1 lead.
 
Nichols added one in the fifth and two in the sixth and found themselves trailing 8-4 entering the eighth inning. A RBI-double from junior Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Pa.) followed by a RBI-single from Hardy cut the deficit to two runs, however, the Engineers added three more runs to hold on for the win.
 
All-Time Series
This Engineers have now won the last eight meetings with the Bison dating back through the 2007 season and now lead the all-time series at, 14-8-2. The Bison's last win in the series came in 1996.
 
Next Games
WPI (9-4) – Friday, March 24 at Brandeis, 3:30 p.m.
Nichols (7-4) –Friday, March 24 at Wheaton (MA), 3:30 p.m.