Norton, MA --- The 2024 season came to an end for the WPI baseball team, as the #5 Engineers fell on the road at #4 Wheaton in the NEWMAC Tournament play-in game. The Lyons (22-12) topped WPI, 23-4, and will play at #1 Salve Regina on Friday at 3:30pm in the double-elimination bracket. 

The Engineers finish the campaign with a 20-17-1 overall mark. 

Wheaton's Ryan McCarroll (Clifton Park, NY) improved to 7-2 on the season, throwing five innings in the win, allowing two runs on eight hits with six strikeouts. Owen Radcliffe (Holliston, MA) suffered the loss, tossing four innings, allowing 11 earned runs on 13 hits with two strikeouts. 

WPI's offense pounded out 15 hits but was limited to just four runs. Tommy Burns (Morris Plains, NJ) led the charge with a 5-for-5 performance, with a double and a home run, driving in two runs. Jonathan Lattimer (Windsor, CT) finished with three hits, while DJ Brooks (Danvers, MA) had a pair of singles. Jake DelMonte (Southington, CT) and Liam Keblin (Newton, MA) drove in runs in the loss. 

For Wheaton, Kevin Matos (Lawrence, MA) was 4-for-4 with three doubles, a home run, and seven RBI. Tommy Beauregard (Salem, MA) drove in four runs off of two hits, while Tommy Ambrosone (Hopkinton, MA) had four hits with two RBI. Tyler Bellan (Franklin, MA) finished with three hits and two RBI, while Shawn Cali (East Taunton, MA), Casey Wensley (Raynham, MA), and Mike Maher (Jefferson, MA) all had two RBI. 

Wheaton's offense wasted little time, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. A Matos double down the right field line scored the first two of the game before Cali added an RBI single for the three-run advantage. 

WPI cut it to 3-2 with two in the top of the third. Brooks and Hand started the inning with singles, but a runner caught stealing and a strikeout had two on with two out. Burns then launched a home run, his sixth of the season, to cut the deficit to one run. 

The Lyons answered with four runs each in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to extend the lead to 11-2. In the third, RBI doubles from Matos, Cali, and Ambrosone scored the first three runs, before Beauregard added a sac fly. In the fourth, Matos started the scoring with a two-run blast, before RBI hits from Bellan and Beauregard put the hosts up nine runs. 

Wheaton broke open the game with nine runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it 20-2. A bases-loaded walk from Matos was the first run of the frame before singles from Ambrosone, Bellan, and Beauregard sent four more home. A fielder's choice from Wensley was the fifth run of the inning, while a two-RBI single from Maher and an RBI double from Matos completed the nine-run frame. 

WPI got one in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from Keblin, but Wheaton plated three more in the bottom of the frame to make it 23-3. The Lyons scored on a Wensley sac fly, a wild pitch, and a ground-out to balloon the advantage to 20 runs. 

The Engineers made some noise in the top of the ninth inning, as Burns, Lattimer, and Merrick singled to load the bases with one out. DelMonte got one run home on a sac fly, but a strikeout ended the inning and the game, as Wheaton finished out the win.