Baseball Salvages Split Against SUNYIT

AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Freshman Aaron Denis (Dover, N.H.) picked up his second win in as many starts as he scattered five hits and struck out seven to help the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team salvage a split with a 10-1 win over SUNYIT. The win came after the Wildcats had defeated the Leopards, 6-3, in the first game of the non-conference doubleheader.

SUNYIT got on the board in its first at bat as senior Kevin Rowlands (New York Mills, N.Y.) singled home classmate Jim Sass (Kingston, N.Y.), who had led off the contest with a single.

The game remained 1-0 until the Wildcats tacked on two unearned runs in the top of the fourth when senior Ryan Dungey (Vernon, N.Y.) delivered a two-run single, which scored sophomore Ryan Wegner (Rochester, N.Y.) and junior Anthony Ragosta (Troy, N.Y.).

Wentworth, which was held without a hit for the first three innings, cut the lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning when junior Anthony Matera (Trumbull, Conn.), who had led off with a walk, eventually came home to score on an RBI groundout by senior Paul Dassau (Franklin, Mass.). The Leopards would tie the game an inning later after junior Jake Mailman (Medway, Mass.), who drew a leadoff walk, eventually scored on a wild pitch and junior pinch-runner Jim Collins (Bedford, Mass.) had a steal of home.

The Wildcats reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh on an RBI single from sophomore Connor Passalacqua (Whitestown, N.Y.) and would eventually score the third run of the inning. The second run of the inning came when Rowlands scored after Ragosta reached on a Wentworth error.

Down to its final at bat, the Leopards had the tying run at the plate with zero outs, and, after a pair of strikeouts, loaded the bases when sophomore Johnny Ryan (Brant Rock, Mass.) reached on an error. However, Dungey, who had come on to pitch after the first two batters reached, recorded his third strikeout of the inning to end the game.

Junior Cody Crego (Holland Patent, N.Y.) picked up the win while Dungey notched his first save. Dungey was also 2-for-4 with two RBI while Rowlands and Passalacqua had two hits apiece.

Senior Ben Lewis (Middletown, R.I.) took the loss to fall to 0-2. He allowed six runs (three earned), scattered 11 hits, and struck out nine in the complete-game effort. Senior Jon Spitz (Hanover, Mass.) and sophomore Sam McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) had two hits apiece for the Black & Gold.

Mailman delivered a two-run, one-out single to open the second game with Dassau and junior Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.) scoring. Hulme then recorded an RBI single in the second inning, scoring Matera, to give Wentworth a 3-0 lead.

The Wildcats scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning when Rowlands struck out but reached on a throwing error, scoring Sass who had led off with a single.

Wentworth broke the game open in the fourth inning by scoring six runs. Hulme had an RBI single, scoring Matera, Mailman drew a bases-loaded walk, freshman Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) had a two-run single, junior Scott Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) had an RBI single, and freshman Jimmy Temte (Northborough, Mass.) had a sacrifice fly.

In the top of the seventh inning Temte tripled to left and came home when senior Joe Sacchetti (Plymouth, Mass.) hit a single to center.

Denis allowed one unearned run over his seven innings in the win. Hulme and Burst were each 3-for-3 while Spitz and Matera had two hits each. Mailman drove in three runs in the game.

Five different players recorded hits for SUNYIT (4-5) while sophomore Duke Schneider (Clinton, N.Y.) was tagged with the loss.

Wentworth (6-2) closes out its spring trip on Saturday with a regional matchup against Worcester State. That doubleheader is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m.