Northboro, MA --- With a 12-7 victory on Tuesday afternoon, the WPI baseball team snapped Roger Williams' 10-game season-opening winning streak and handed the Hawks their first loss of the season, while picking up the team's first victory in the Northeast in 2022.
Roger Williams entered the game ranked second in the New England Division III Coaches Poll and was receiving votes in the D3Baseball.com Top-25.
The Engineers (4-5) piled on 14 hits on the day led by a 3-for-3 effort from leadoff hitter Andrew Brooks (Millis, MA) who added another home run to his total, his team and conference-leading fifth of the season. Brooks finished the day with three runs scored, driving in another three and forcing two walks, reaching base in all five of his at bats.
Martin McCormack (Quincy, MA) was also perfect on the day with a 4-for-4 outing, scoring two runs and driving in another while also drawing a walk while Dylan Connors (Westboro, MA) was 3-for-5 with two RBIs, and DJ Brooks (Danvers, MA) finished the day 2-for-4 from the plate with a triple and three runs batted in.
Carter Bach (Albany, NY) came into the game in relief in the fifth inning, pitching three innings of action, allowing just one earned run and giving up two hits to pick up his second victory of the season. Ryan Malkowski (Hubbardston, MA) shut the door with four strikeouts in two shutout innings to close out the game.
A Christopher Flynn (Randolph, NJ) double to centerfield for the Hawks cleared the bases and gave Roger Williams a 3-0 lead after the first half inning of action. It took until the second inning for the Engineers to get on the board as Joe Salvon (Longmeadow, MA) grounded into a double play with bases loaded that brought home Kyle Johns (Milltown, NJ) and advanced Jacob Hand (Niskayuna, NY) to third. After a walk from Frank D'Alessio (Morganville, NJ), DJ Brooks ripped his triple down the right field line to bring home both baserunners and even the score at three-all.
The Engineers put together another three run inning in the bottom of the fourth as a DJ Brooks single loaded the bases in time for Andrew Brooks to single to the pitcher and bring a run home, followed by a fielder's choice from Jeffrey Brennan (Amsterdam, NY) that brought home another. A Connors single to right field brought home the third run of the inning to give WPI a 6-3 advantage after four complete.
But Roger Williams bounced back in the top of the fifth with a three-run inning of its own at the hands of Jack Morin (North Andover, MA). Morin knocked in the first run of the inning with a single through the left side, forced an errant throw on an attempted stolen base that allowed his teammate to score one batter later, and then came around the cross the plate on his own on a groundout to the second baseman and after four-and-a-half innings the score was knotted at six-apiece.
But the Engineers widened the gap in the bottom half of the frame putting together a four hit, four run inning. A McCormack single to left centerfield bringing home Hand, who reached base after a passed ball strikeout. A few batters later, with runners on second and third, DJ Brooks sent a sac fly to centerfield that brought home McCormack followed by an Andrew Brooks blast to right field that scored two more runs for the 10-6 lead.
Roger Williams added its final run to the total in the top of the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly, while the Engineers sealed the victory adding a run to the total in both the seventh and eighth innings on the bats of Connors and Salvon to earn a five-run lead and the ultimate victory.
Roger Williams netted just eight hits on the day, paced by a 1-for-2 effort from Morin who drew two walks and drove a pair in. Flynn finished with a 1-for-3 day with a double and three runs batted in. Dan Massaro (Fairfield, CT) entered the game in the fourth inning with runners on first and third and was able to get the Hawks out of a jam. However, he ended up giving up six runs (two earned) over the next two innings en route to the loss.
The Engineers are back in action on Wednesday, March 23 with another home outing against Worcester State in Northboro at 3:30pm. Roger Williams will look to bounce back on Saturday when the Hawks take on Nichols with its home and conference-opening double-header that kicks off at 11am.