Northboro, MA --- Senior Nick Comei (Haverhill, MA) continued his outstanding week with a pair of extra-base hits to lead WPI past Brandeis in a non-conference baseball game Friday afternoon at the New England Baseball Complex.
Comei, who is hitting .692 over the past three games, went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple to go with a pair of RBI and what proved to be the game-winning run. Defensively, he was a part of two double plays. Sophomore Steven Gallagher (Coventry, RI) homered while junior Evan Lacroix (Methuen, MA) tripled and sophomore Ryan Tropeano (Pembroke, MA) doubled and scored twice. Gallagher, junior Matt Howard (Worcester, MA), graduate student Anthony Capuano (Stoneham, MA), sophomore Tyler Weiss (Monroe, CT) and freshman Nick Tagaris (New City, NY) participated in one double play apiece.
The Engineers had a fresh arm begin each inning. Sophomore Sam Bacchiocchi (Freetown, MA) was credited with the win as senior CJ Doskocil (Sterling, MA), sophomore Tommy McCarthy (Jefferson, MD) and sophomore Adam Bettigole (South Windsor, CT) all faced the minimum during their shift. Freshman Dillon Bordeleau (Cranston, RI), senior Sean Fallon (Westwood, MA), Weiss, sophomore Dominic Fusco (North Haven, CT) and Tagaris all faced four batters.
Brandeis was led by senior Jay Schaff (Cheshire, CT) who went 2-for-3 with a walk and freshman Victor Oppenheimer (West Hills, CA) who batted 3-for-4. Senior Ryan Tettemer (Westfield, MA) knocked in the lone run for the Judges. Rookie Dan O'Leary (Lynnfield, MA) doubled and scored to break up the shutout. Despite shouldering the setback, junior Sean O'Neill (Reading, MA) struck out a career-high 13 batters over seven innings, which was the most since then-junior Kyle Brenner '15 (Brookfield, MA/SPM/East Side) accomplished the feat in a nine-inning shutout of SUNY Maritime on February 20, 2014. Senior Liam Coughlin (Townsend, MA) took the ball for the eighth.
Tropeano reached on a leadoff miscue and scored on Comei's double to right. Comei then came home on a Howard hit down the right field line in the bottom of the first.
With two outs in the home half of the fifth, Tropeano doubled and Comei followed with a run-producing triple. Gallagher later launched an insurance home run in the eighth.
O'Leary began the ninth with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. He then broke up the shutout when Tettemer singled to left. The Engineers finished the game with a 1-6-3 double play and a swinging strikeout.
WPI (10-4) opens NEWMAC play tomorrow with an 11am crossover doubleheader versus Wheaton. Thanks to postponements tomorrow (DH at ECSU) and Sunday (at Babson), Brandeis' (1-5) next game is slated for 3pm Monday at Salem State.
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