Bristol, RI --- A two-RBI single from Matt Falvey (Walpole, MA) in the bottom of the eighth inning sent Roger Williams over visiting WPI in non-conference baseball action on Thursday. The loss dips the Engineers to 13-17 overall, while the Hawks improve to 10-18.
The Engineers led twice in the game, including 5-3 in the seventh, but two runs each in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings gave Roger Williams the victory.
The Hawks saw two hits from Christopher Flynn (Randolph, NJ) and two RBI from Falvey, combined with a victory from reliever MarkAnthony Glickman (Newbury, MA). Glickman pitched just one scoreless, hitless inning, striking out one in his second win of the season. Brett Lauterbach (Fairfield, CT) got the save, his third, throwing the ninth, working around a walk with a pair of strikeouts.
For WPI, Jack Zawacki (Pittsford, NY) drove in three runs, while Kyle DeRoma (Dracut, MA) and Jacob Hand (Niskayuna, NY) each had two hits. Jack Gomes (Newport, RI) was saddled with the loss, throwing two innings, allowing four runs, three earned, with four strikeouts and four walks. Freshman Luke Blandino (Eden, NY) delivered five strong innings of relief in the middle innings for the Crimson and Gray.
The Engineers scored three in the opening frame, first capitalizing on a Tommy Burns (Morris Plains, NJ) hit by pitch and an RBI groundout from Jeffrey Brennan (Amsterdam, NY). A walk to Kyle Johns (Milltown, NJ) was followed by a Zawacki triple that plated two, before the final two batters of the frame struck out looking.
Trailing 3-0, Roger Williams got two back in the bottom of the inning. Nick Sheehan (Medway, MA) started the rally with a single, while Matt Massaro walked, with both moving up on steals. London Camelo (Bristol, RI) then drove in the first Hawks run on a groundout, while the next scored on a Jack Morin (North Andover, MA) single.
In the bottom of the sixth, a two-out solo homerun from Flynn knotted the game at 3-3.
WPI answered in its next at-bat, with two runs on three hits to go up 5-3. Hand and Brennan opened the inning with singles and a sac fly from Johns made it 4-3. A ground-out from Kyle DeRoma (Dracut, MA) pushed it to a two-run lead before RWU got out of the inning.
The Engineers' lead was short-lived however, as Roger Williams took advantage of three WPI errors to plate two in the bottom of the seventh, tying the game at 5-5. Matt Massaro got the first RBI on a single and later scored on a throwing error.
The hosts took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the eighth. Owen Hibbard (Roxbury, CT) tripled to start the rally, while Noah Hester (Old Saybrook, CT) walked and stole second to set up Falvey's game-winning single up the middle. The Hawks had a chance for more but WPI's DeRoma threw a runner out and Gomes got the final batter of the frame by strikeout.
In the top of the ninth, Lauterbach allowed a lead-off walk to Hand, but struck out the next two batters and induced a ground ball out to end the game.
WPI has Coast Guard on the schedule next with a single game Friday on the road at 3:30pm and then a doubleheader Saturday at home starting at 2:30pm at Clark. Roger Williams next plays CCC-rival Curry on Tuesday at 3pm.