Game 1: WPI 8, UMass Dartmouth 0
Game 2: WPI 3, UMass Dartmouth 1

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score   

Auburndale, FL --- WPI Baseball took home 8-0 and 3-1 victories in a doubleheader versus in-state rival UMass Dartmouth on Saturday at the Russmatt Baseball Central Florida Invitational. The two wins allowed the Engineers to finish their southern swing with a 5-5 mark.

Bryan Watkins (Belmont, MA) was dominant on the hill in the opener, tossing six shutout innings of one-hit ball to hold down the Corsairs' attack. Watkins struck out eight and walked none in a superb effort to lift WPI to the win. Chris Walker (Brookline, NH) struck out one in a perfect seventh to close out the game for Watkins.

WPI jumped out to their third consecutive 3-0 lead, plating three in the bottom of the first inning, benefiting from a walk, error and three hit batsmen in the frame. Cody McGregor's (Westfield, MA) RBI infield single, the Engineers' only hit in the inning, staked Watkins to a 3-0 edge.

After tacking on a run in the second to make it 4-0, WPI broke the game open in the fourth, scoring three more runs to extend their lead to 7-0. A Scott McNee (Falmouth, MA) double drove in two runs to boost the WPI lead to 6-0, while Nick Bean (Middleboro, MA) followed with a RBI single to send McNee home with the Engineers' seventh run of the game. Bean would add another RBI single in the sixth, leading to the 8-0 WPI win.

Watkins picked up his second win of the Florida trip in game one, improving to 2-0 on the season.

Game two remained scoreless until the top of the fourth inning, when the Engineers pieced together a rally that was sparked by John Flynn's (Albion, ME) leadoff double. McNee then struck out but reached base on a wild pitch. Matt Moreau (Manchester, NH) followed with a triple down the right field line that scored both Flynn and McNee, setting starter Sean Minor (Los Angeles, CA) up with a 2-0 lead.

Minor (1-1) would allow one run in the fifth to the Corsairs, but no more, en route to his first win of the season. Minor went the distance, striking out six in seven innings of work. WPI added a third run on a McGregor sac fly in the seventh, to finish the scoring in its 3-1 game two win.

WPI Baseball will head home tonight for some much needed rest in Worcester before heading back out on the road for back-to-back games at Johnson and Wales and at Fitchburg State this Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games are scheduled to begin at 3:30pm. 

Story written by Ray Cotrufo '98 - WPI Athletics Department