WPI 15, Fitchburg State 9

Box Score 

Auburndale, FL --- WPI Baseball rebounded to take home a 15-9 win over Fitchburg St. on Thursday afternoon at the Russmatt Baseball Central Florida Invitational.  The victory bumps the Engineers' record back to .500 at 3-3 on the season. Nick Bean (Middleboro, MA) and Jameson Kokolis (Manchester, NH) each launched home runs and drove in four runs en route to the victory. Fitchburg State drops to 6-3.

The Engineers started the game on fire, rallying for six runs in the top of the 1st. With one out in the inning, four different batters reached base for WPI before Kokolis' three-run homer to left off Falcons starter Corey Donovan (Lowell, MA) gave the Crimson and Gray a 6-0 advantage. The Falcons went to the pen following Kokolis' blast, with Tyler Kendrick (Montague, MA) coming on to retire the side and settle things down for Fitchburg State.

The Falcons would stage an early comeback, scoring a run in the bottom of the first and rallying for three more in the bottom of the 2nd off WPI starter Nolan Murphy (Shrewsbury, MA). Falcon shortstop John Phelan (Walpole, MA) had the key hit of the inning, a two-run single with the bases loaded that cut the WPI lead to 6-3. Fitchburg State would make it 6-4 later in the inning as Phelan scored on a throwing error. 

Phelan would strike again for the Falcons in the fourth, doubling down the line to lead off the inning and scoring on a single by second baseman Aaron Granahan (Thomaston, CT) to cut the advantage to 6-5.  Kendrick kept the WPI attack at bay until the fifth as Fitchburg State staged its comeback, but the Engineers would boost their lead to 8-5 on a two-run blast from Bean in the top of the 5th following a walk by Paul Galligan (Weymouth, MA). 

The teams each put up crooked numbers in the sixth inning, as WPI had their first four hitters of the inning reach base, keyed by a Bryan Watkins (Belmont, MA) bases loaded double that drove home Kokolis and Cody McGregor (Westfield, MA). The Falcons responded in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run single from 1B Kris Breen (Griswold, CT) that brought the Falcons to within 10-7. Breen had three hits on the afternoon.

WPI would add single runs in the seventh and ninth innings, sandwiching a three-run top of the 8th inning that broke the game open. Once again, the Engineers had the first four batters of the inning reach safely. Galligan and Scott McNee (Falmouth, MA) each had RBI extra-base hits in the eighth. Fitchburg State would tack on single runs in the eighth and ninth innings, but their rallies fell short, with the Engineers taking home the 15-9 victory.

Phelan was 4-for-6 on the day to lead Fitchburg State, and reached base seven times. Granahan and Nick Rocheleau (Leominster, MA) each had two hits for the Falcons. McNee, Galligan and McGregor each had two hits for the Engineers, with Galligan scoring a team-best three runs on the day.

Murphy picked up the win for the Engineers, going five innings and giving up five runs on seven hits, striking out eight. Donovan took the loss for the Falcons.

WPI Baseball is back in action in Winter Haven on Friday when they take on Beloit (WI) in a doubleheader at 12:30pm. There are four games left on the team's southern swing before returning to Worcester on Sunday.

Story written by Ray Cotrufo '98 - WPI Athletics Department