WORCESTER -- It was a tale of two games in the WPI baseball team's doubleheader with Clark on Saturday afternoon. Game one featured a nail biting one-run game while the bats came alive in the series finale.
The Engineers (15-18, 5-12 NEWMAC) earned the first win of the day, coming away with a 7-6 victory while Clark (16-16, 5-12) earned a 16-10 win in the final game of the weekend and the NEWMAC schedule.
WPI starter Alexander Mondro (Westford, MA) earned the win for WPI, his second of the year with a five inning outing allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out four. Noah Pins (Holden, MA) picked up the save, his third of the year, pitching the ninth. Clark reliever Benjamin Spencer (New Holland, PA) who stepped into the ballgame in the third inning of action picked up the win pitching four innings in game two.
The two teams combined for 47 hits on the day in the doubleheader, though the pitching staffs also combined for 26 strikeouts between the two games.
Game one of the day was similar to the series opener, this time though going in favor of the Engineers. WPI got out to an early lead and was able to hold off Clark down the stretch, this time keeping the Cougars 180 feet away from tying up the game en route to the victory.
Eight different Engineers recorded a hit on the day led by a 3-for-3 effort from Michael Fraser (Mashpee, MA) who drove in two RBIs, while Kyle Johns (Milltown, NJ) 1-for-3 effort was highlighted by a game-opening three-run blast to give WPI a lead it would never relent.
After Andrew Brooks (Millis, MA) and Joe Salvon (Longmeadow, MA) got on base, Johns launched a shot out of the park for the 3-0 lead. Clark got one back in the second after an Andrea Casabianca (Yonkers, NY) shot down the right field line brought home CJ Johnson (Danbury, CT).
But WPI added a run in the third on a Frank D'Alessio (Morganville, NJ) single, and a pair in the fourth thanks to a Dylan Connors (Westboro, MA) solo shot and a Fraser single to left which brought home Jacob Hand (Niskayuna, NY) to make it a 6-1 lead after four innings.
Clark got a pair back in the fifth, but WPI added the ultimate game-winner in the sixth inning as a Fraser single scored Hand once again to make it a 7-3 game.
Clark got back a pair in the bottom half of the frame, and then added one more in the ninth, but fell shy as the Engineers came away with the win.
Game two featured an offensive onslaught from the Cougs as they came away with the 16-10 victory. DJ Brooks (Danvers, MA) put together a 3-for-5 effort for WPI scoring two of the team's 10 runs, while Clark leadoff hitter Carter Doran (Natick, MA) was 3-for-3 with a pair of walks, two RBIs and four runs scored.
WPI put up a three-run inning in the second thanks to a pair of singles to right and a sacrifice fly. But Clark responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning and another in the third to make it a 3-2 ballgame. WPI added another in the fourth as a failed pickoff attempt resulted in a run.
But Clark opened the game up in the bottom of the fourth putting six runs on the board. A double down the left field line brought home two, a single to left brought another pair and the Cougs wrapped up the scoring with a two-run blast to left center to give Clark an 8-4 advantage.
WPI answered right back with back-to-back hits in the fifth that brought home a pair and another trio of runs in the sixth inning scoring on a wild pitch, an error and a hit by pitch with the bases loaded to gain a 9-8 advantage.
But just as quickly as the Engineers gained the lead, Clark took it away, putting up a five-spot in the bottom half of the sixth, taking advantage of some Engineer pitching miscues to gain a 13-9 lead it never gave up. The Cougs would add another three runs in the seventh on a three-run blast from Chris Radovic (Fairfield, CT) and though WPI was able to add another run to the board, it was unable to overcome the deficit.
WPI is back in action with its final regular season game of the year at Brandeis at 7pm on Tuesday while Clark rounds out the regular season with a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader at Salve Regina beginning at 1:30pm.