East Providence, RI --- Johnson & Wales rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 5-2 to defeat WPI 6-5 as the two baseball teams completed a brief two-game series on Thursday afternoon. The contest was played in Rhode Island with the Engineers serving as the home team. The Wildcats improve to 3-5, while WPI dips to 4-6.
WPI jumped on the board in the fourth as Nick Bean (Middleboro, MA) scored on a Sean Kelly (Shrewsbury, MA) RBI single. An inning later, Alex Posch (Hopedale, MA) brought in a run on a single.
In the sixth, Teddy Katz (Pittsburgh, PA) began a string of four straight singles that brought in two runs to tie the game at 2-2. Also connecting were Zach Boyes (West Warwick, RI),Pete Rosa (Ambler, PA) and Jake Dickerson (Garnet Valley, PA).
The Engineers responded with three runs in their half of the inning as Kelly singled, Daniel Thomas (Manchester, NH) was hit by a pitch and Kyle Bartosik (Midland Park, NJ) recorded a hit. All three came around to score for the 5-2 edge on a Mike Gauvin (Leominster, MA) RBI grounder, an error and a Mitch McClune (Pembroke, MA) bases loaded walk.
The Wildcats chipped away at the lead in the seventh as Joe Coppola (Ridgewood, NJ) scored in the seventh on the error. An inning later Tim Printer (Coventry, RI) crossed the plate on an Engineer miscue. Dickerson would score on a ground out to bring the game to a 5-5 tie. Bryan Sayers (Chelmsford, MA) then plated the game-winning run on a grounder to the shortstop.
Jason Tsangarides (Hinsdale, MA) picked up the win for the Wildcats and improved to 1-1 as he scattered five hits in seven innings of work. Remy Cohen (Atlantic Highlands, NJ) was credited with the save.
Forrest Dwyer (Winthrop, ME) gave up three runs (two earned) on eight hits in seven innings for the Engineers. Brian Schopka (Tinton Falls, NJ) (0-1) took the loss, yielding three runs (one earned) over the final two innings.
WPI is back on the diamond tomorrow wheStory by Mark Therrien - WPI Athleticsn they venture to Babson to begin a three-game NEWMAC series at 3:30pm. The Engineers will be the home team for the Friday matchup. Johnson and Wales hosts Wentworth on Saturday at 1pm.