Baseball Rallies to Defeat Roger Williams

WEYMOUTH, Mass. – Trailing 9-6 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team scored five unanswered runs over the seventh and eighth innings, rallying to defeat Roger Williams, 11-9, in Conference of New England play Tuesday night.

With the win the Leopards improve to 5-12 (1-2), while the Hawks fall to 6-9 (1-2).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• After a scoreless first inning, Roger Williams put three on the board in the top of the second inning, using a pair of RBI singles and scoring on a Wentworth error. Wentworth put up a run in the home half of the inning on a solo home run by Christian Roncal.
• The Hawks got a solo home run in the third inning from Sam Weigel and added two runs in the fourth on a bases-loaded hit by pitch and an RBI single to increase their lead to 6-1. Roger Williams had the bases loaded with one out. Luke Ryan came in in relief of starter Chase Carder and induced a 6-2-3 double play and struck out the second batter he faced to end the inning.
• Wentworth chipped away at the lead with three runs in the fourth to make it 6-4. A.T. DiPina led off with a single and went to second when Roncal walked. Nick Cullinan followed with a two-run triple and he came in to score on a Jake Prisco bunt single.
• An inning later, the Black & Gold tied the game at 6-all. Devon Lapierre led off with a double and with one out went to third on a wild pitch. A single from Matthew Favazzo scored Lapierre and after Favazzo stole second, he went to third on a DiPina single. Favazzo scored when DiPina got caught in a rundown trying to steal.
• Roger Williams took a 9-6 lead in the top of the seventh on a three-run home run off the bat of Nick Sheehan. In the home half of the inning, Wentworth tied the game at 9-all. With one out, Roncal drew a walk and went to third on a Cullinan single. Bennett Leary delivered a pinch-hit single, scoring Roncal and moving Cullinan to third. Pinch runner Nick Tiani went to second on a passed ball and moved to third when Cullinan scored on an errant pickoff attempt. With two outs, Tiani scored on a wild pitch.
• The Hawks had the go-ahead run on in the eighth against Cooper Smith, who got the final two batters of the inning out by way of the strikeout, ending the threat. In the home half of the inning, Lapierre led off with a walk and went to second on a Jake Samela sacrifice bunt. A single from Favazzo brought in Lapierre and Favazzo went to third on DiPina's ground-rule double. A groundout by Roncal brought Favazzo in and gave Wentworth an 11-9 lead.
• Brady Aubuchon came on for the ninth inning and after a one-out single, got a game-ending double play.
• Smith earned his first collegiate win (1-0) with his scoreless eighth inning, while Aubuchon notched his first collegiate save. At the plate, Cullinan was 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI, DiPina was 3-for-5, Roncal was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBI, while Favazzo was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Ryan Chenard pitched a scoreless sixth inning.

ALL-TIME SERIES:

• Tonight was the 74th all-time meeting between the two teams. Wentworth has won the last two meetings.

NEXT UP

• Wentworth hosts Hartford in a CNE doubleheader on Saturday.

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