Davenport, FL --- The WPI baseball team picked up a split against Ursinus on Friday night at the RussMatt Invitational in Florida. The Bears (7-9) took game one, 8-4, while the Engineers (4-4) won game two, 6-2.
For WPI, Jacob Hand (Niskayuna, NY) and Gavin George (Salem, NH) each picked up four hits on the day, while Jack Zawacki (Pittsford, NY) went 3-for-3 in game two. The Bears were led by Andrew Richter (Chester, NJ) who had two hits in each game, and Cameron Krugel (Wilkes Barre, PA) who picked up three RBI
Ursinus' Dan Bass (Berkeley Heights, NJ) got the game one win in relief, throwing three scoreless innings, and allowing three hits with three strikeouts. In game two, WPI's Everett Wonson (Wenham, MA) earned the win, going five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out eight.
GAME ONE
While each team belted 11 hits in the game, WPI was done in by two big innings from Ursinus, as the Bears put up four runs each in the third and sixth frames.
The Engineers took an early 1-0 lead, as a George single to center brought home Kyle Johns' (Milltown, NJ) lead-off double. Ursinus answered in the bottom of the third, with four runs off five hits. Singles from Richter, Will Kelley (Broomall, PA), Solomon Griffith (Ocean City, NJ), and Tom Snipes (Meadowbrook, PA) made it a 2-1 Bears lead before a big Krugel double plated two more to push it to a 4-1 advantage.
WPI had a big inning of its own in the top of the fourth with three runs off four hits. Andrew Cash (Marlboro, MA) led off the frame with a solo homerun to make it a 4-2 game. After a George single, Kolby Robertson (Easton, PA) tripled to right center and then was driven home on a Brooks sac fly that tied the game at 4-4. A Hand single followed while Joe Salvon (West Springfield, MA) was hit by a pitch to put two on with two outs, but a groundout ended the inning.
The tie stood until the bottom of the sixth when Richter launched a homerun that scored a lead-off single from Cantor. Singles from Kyle Rosenfeld (Santa Clarita, CA), Griffith, and Krugel pushed the lead to 8-4 before WPI got a final flyout to stop the bleeding.
In the top of the seventh, two-out singles from Cash and George made things interesting, but Ursinus' Bass got a strikeout to end the game.
GAME TWO
The Engineers jumped out to a lead with a pair in the bottom of the second. Kyle DeRoma (Dracut, MA) led off with a single while Cash put two on with a fielder's choice that also advanced DeRoma to third. Robertson and Nicholas Battaglino (Marlboro, MA) followed with back-to-back singles that drove in runs for a 2-0 WPI advantage.
Two more Engineers crossed the plate in the bottom of the third. Zawacki tripled down the right field line to lead off and was sent home on a Salvon groundout. After walks to DeRoma and Johns, a Cash single made it 4-0 WPI.
Ursinus threatened in the top of the fifth loading the bases on two walks and a WPI error, but Engineers' Wonson struck out the final batter of the frame. In the bottom of the inning, WPI pushed its lead to 5-0 with a DeRoma single that scored Zawacki who led off the inning with a base hit.
The Bears finally broke through in the top of the sixth, cutting the lead to 5-2 with two runs on three hits. Singles from Krugel and Cantor accounted for the first run before a Richter double drove in another and put runners on second and third with no outs. However, WPI's Gavin Maloney (West Boylston, MA) struck out back-to-back batters and then induced a ground ball to get out of the inning.
WPI added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth as a two-out Hand single scored George to make it 6-2.
Ursinus got a lead-off single from Griffith in the top of the seventh, but two strikeouts and a groundout from Pins sealed the four-run win for the Engineers.
WPI has a quick turnaround and will close out its Florida trip with a doubleheader against Penn State-Abington beginning at 9:45am. Ursinus is off until Wednesday when the Bears travel to Salisbury for a 3:30pm game.