NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – The Roger Williams University Baseball team defeated WPI 15-12 at the New England Baseball Complex on Tuesday afternoon. RWU snapped the Engineers undefeated start and eight game win streak as Will Florio (San Jose, CA) homered twice and drove in eight runs in the contest.
Roger Williams jumped out to an early lead in the first inning on Florio's first three-run home run before Florio added another run with an RBI single in the second to go up 4-0. WPI answered in the second inning with three runs by RBI singles from Miles Pratt and Zachary Roethlein along with a balk that brought home another run to cut the deficit to 4-3.
The Hawks broke the game open in the third with six runs to extend their lead to 10-3. Noah Hester (Old Saybrook, Conn.) brought in the first run of the inning on a bases-loaded walk and then a wild pitch brought home Casey DeLorenzo (East Greenwich, R.I.). Jack Tubman (Bellingham, Mass.) reached on an error and drove in another run, before Florio slugged another three-run homer. The Engineers responded immediately in the bottom of the third, as Pratt delivered a two-run triple and Andrew Flamini added an RBI groundout to make it 10-6.
After Roger Williams added a run in the fourth on an RBI single from Nick Dimaso (Cortlandt Manor, NY), WPI's Chuck Cappello launched a three-run home run in the fifth to pull WPI within 11-9.
WPI continued to chip away in the sixth inning, scoring on a Pratt RBI groundout to make it a one-run game at 11-10. Roger Williams answered with two runs in the seventh on a RBI double from Florio and an RBI single from Sam Arcieri (Westwood, N.J.), before adding another in the eighth on an RBI double from Hester to push the lead to 14-10.
The Engineers mounted one final push in the eighth, scoring twice on bases-loaded hit-by-pitches to trim the deficit to 14-12. In the ninth, Roger Williams added an insurance run on a sacrifice fly and brough the score to 15-12. WPI put two runners on with two outs in the bottom half, bringing the tying run to the plate, but could not complete the comeback as a groundout ended the game.
Roger Williams was led by Florio, who drove in eight runs on five hits, including a pair of three-run home runs. Luke Miele (Wellesley, Mass.) went 3-for-6 at the plate, while Hester went 1-for-4 with two walks and two RBIs. Arcieri added an RBI for the Hawks and drew three walks in the effort.
Cappello powered the Engineers with a three-run home run and three RBIs. Pratt went 3-for-5 with a triple and four RBIs, while Joe DiMichele added two hits and scored twice. Roethlein also recorded two hits and drove in a run for WPI.
Ryan Camp (Cheshire, CT) earned the win for the Hawks, while Tyler DiCecco (Rumford, RI) closed it out to earn the save, recording the final six outs. Andrew Burke was charged with the loss for WPI after allowing three runs in the opening inning.
Roger Williams (6-4, 0-0 CNE) will host Tufts on Paolino Field for a 3:00 pm contest on Thursday, Mar. 19. WPI (8-1, 0-0 NEWMAC) returns to action on Thursday, Mar. 19, hosting Suffolk at 3:30 pm at the New England Baseball Complex.
