Wentworth Wins Fourth Straight After Holding on for 11-10 Win Over St. Joseph's

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Juniors Doug Papuga (Branford, Conn.) and Ben Danker each collected four hits, with Papuga driving in three runs as the Wentworth baseball team ran its win streak to four games (4-2) with an 11-10 victory over St. Joseph's of Maine (3-4).

In a game that took 3:36 to play through an off and on rain and saw both teams combine to throw 373 pitches, the Leopards squandered a chance to go on the board in their first at bat, leaving the bases loaded. Junior Matt Jordan (Concord, N.H.) drew a one-out walk and went to third on a Danker single to center. After a strikeout, junior Jake McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) drew a walk, but a ground out ended the threat.

St. Joseph's which entered the game receiving votes in this week's D3Baseball.com Top 25 Poll, took advantage of a two-out error to score a pair of unearned runs. The Monks loaded the bases on three consecutive singles and freshman Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, Mass.) would reach on a dropped fly ball, which allowed senior Ben Grant-Roy (Biddeford, Maine) and junior Ian Lee (Hampden, Maine) to score. A ground out would end the inning.

Wentworth sliced the lead in half in the second inning when Papuga tripled home junior Mike Diodato (Asbury, N.J.) and would take a 3-2 lead an inning later when Danker hit an RBI double and would come around to score on a McManus base hit. Pratt tied the game in the home half of the third with a sacrifice fly that scored junior Chris Campbell (Rochester, N.H.).

The top of the fourth inning saw the Leopards take the lead for good when Diodato led off with a walk and went to second on a sacrifice bunt off the bat of sophomore Conner Flisnik (Whitesboro, N.Y.). A Papuga single moved Diodato to third and he scored on a Jordan RBI single. An inning later Wentworth went ahead, 8-3, when Danker scored on a wild pitch and Diodato, who had a two-run triple, scored on a wild pitch.

St. Joseph's got single runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to cut the lead to 8-5. In the fifth inning, senior Pat Moran (Winterport, Maine) had an RBI single, which scored Lee, while an inning later junior Eric LaBatte (Rochester, N.H.) had an infield single and eventually came around to score on an error.

The teams each had a two-run seventh, as Diodato, who reached on an error, came around to score on a Flisnik double. Flisnik came around to score on a Papuga double to make it a 10-5 game. LaBatte provided the Monks' two runs with one swing of the bat as his first home run of the season would also score Moran and cut the lead to 10-7. St. Joseph's pulled within one in the home half of the eighth on an RBI groundout by Pratt and an RBI double from Moran.

Leading 10-9 heading into the ninth inning, Wentworth tacked on what would serve as the winning run when Flisnik led off with his second consecutive double and scored on a Papuga single to make it 11-9. Senior Scott Borges (Westport, Mass.) came on to close the game out for the Leopards and allowed an unearned run when Campbell scored on a double by Grant-Roy. The tying run would be stranded at second when Borges earned his second save in the last three games with a strikeout.

Jordan went 3-for-5 to help pace a Wentworth offensive attack that pounded out 18 hits. McManus, Diodato, and Flisnik each had two hits, while Diodato scored four runs and drove in a par. For St. Joseph's, Lee was 4-for-6 while Grant-Roy and Moran each had three hits.

Senior Mo Gardner (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) picked up the win (1-0) for the Leopards. He scattered 10 hits while allowing four runs (two earned) and struck out five in four innings of work. Senior Chris Sandini (Upton, Mass.) would allow five runs (four earned) on six hits and struck out five in three innings of work, while Borges gave up a run on one hit and had a pair of strikeouts. Freshman Sean Drake (Lebanon, N.H.) took the loss in relief (0-1) for the Monks. He gave up one run on one hit and walked a pair in 1.1 innings of work.