Northboro, MA --- The WPI baseball team made its New England debut with a decisive 8-1 win over Brandeis on Thursday at the New England Baseball Complex. The Engineers improve to WPI 6-5 on the season, while the Judges dip to 2-4. 

WPI's Jacob Hand (Niskayuna, NY) had three hits, including a double, and an RBI, while Kyle Johns (Milltown, NJ), Kyle DeRoma (Dracut, MA), and Andrew Cash (Marlboro, MA) each had a hit with two RBIs. Joseph Peregrim (Watervliet, NY) tossed an eight-inning win, giving up one run on three hits with four strikeouts. Jack Gomes (Newport, RI) pitched a scoreless ninth inning in relief. 

For Brandeis, Brian King (Palos Verde, CA) had two hits including a solo homerun. 

The Judges opened the game's scoring in the top of the second inning with their first hit of the game a one-out homerun from King, his first of the season. 

The 1-0 Brandeis advantage took until the bottom of the sixth. Lead-off walks to Jeffrey Brennan (Amsterdam, NY) and Joe Salvon (West Springfield, MA) both came around to score on a one-out double from DeRoma that put the Engineers up 2-1. A groundout advanced the runner to third, but Brandeis' Kaplan struck out the final batter of the frame. 

WPI pushed the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Another lead-off walk, this time to Kolby Robertson (Easton, PA) scored on a double from Hand. A groundout moved Hand to third and Salvon singled him home to make it a three-run Engineer lead. 

WPI doubled its run total with a four-spot in the bottom of the eighth to put the game away. A Johns single started the scoring, while a Cash single added two RBI. A Gavin George (Salem, NH) single up the middle made it 8-1 before Brandeis got the final batter of the frame to strike out.

WPI next plays a doubleheader on Saturday against St. Joseph's (ME), beginning at noon. Brandeis also plays on Saturday, starting a three-game series against Bates at 1pm.