Baseball Opens Season With a Pair of Wins

LAKELAND, Fla. – Freshman Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.) paced the offense with a triple, home run, and six runs batted in while sophomore Paul Vergara (Needham, Mass.) spun a five-hit shutout to help the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team take a 13-0 win over Becker in game two of a non-conference doubleheader played at Henley Field. The win came on the heels of the Leopards defeating the Hawks, 8-3, in the opener.

In game one, Becker had a runner on third in two of the first three innings, however would be stranded there as a groundout ended each inning. The Leopards took a 2-0 lead in the home half of the third on a pair of wild pitches. Sophomore Jimmy Temte (Northborough, Mass.) led off the inning with a single and went to second on a freshman Bram Grooten (Eindhoven, Netherlands) sacrifice. Back-to-back walks to sophomore Christian Ferri (Bloomfield, N.J.) and senior Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.) leaded the bases, and, with senior Jake Mailman (Medway, Mass.) at the plate, Temte scored on a wild pitch and Ferri moved to third. Mailman walked, however ball four was wild which allowed Ferri to plate the second run of the inning.

An inning later Wentworth scored three times, thanks in part to a pair of Becker errors. Temte reached on a fielder's choice, which allowed senior Scott Ouellette (Lewiston, Maine) – who had led off with a single and went to second on a wild pitch – to score. Junior Johnny Ryan (Marshfield, Mass.), who had a single in the inning, scored the second run when he came home on a Ferri sacrifice fly. Temte would score the third run of the inning when he scored on an error off a failed pickoff attempt.

The Leopards scored three more in the fifth as Ouellette had an RBI single to score Weninger, Mailman came around to score on an error, and senior Anthony Matera (Trumbull, Conn.) singled in Ouellette.

Becker scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh. Sacrifice flies from sophomores Niko Bedell (Manorville, N.Y.) and T.J. Sempkowski (Oceanport, N.J.) brought the score to 8-2 and an RBI single from freshman Michael Cioce (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) rounded out the scoring.

Sophomore Aaron Denis (Dover, N.H.) picked up his second straight opening day win as he allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits and struck out six. Ouellette had two of the Leopards' six hits in the contest.

Cioce had three hits for Becker while freshman Francis Baldino (East Brookfield, Mass.) added a pair. Senior Keon Jenkins (Nashua, N.H.) was tagged with the loss allowing eight runs on five hits and three strikeouts.

Ferri led off game two with a single, which was followed by a single from Hulme. Mailman drew a four-pitch walk which set the stage for Weninger to lace a bases-clearing triple to right center. Weninger would come around to score on a wild pitch to make it a 4-0 game. Ryan hit a one-out single, which was followed by a sophomore Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) single. Matera reached on an error to load the bases and Burst would score on a wild pitch the end the first inning scoring.

The Leopards tallied two more in the second. Ryan was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Mailman and Burst hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Weninger, who walked. Matera scored to make it 8-0 an inning later when he came across on a passed ball.

Wentworth put up four more in the fifth inning, with three coming off the bat of Weninger. Matera was hit by a pitch to open the inning and moved to second after Ferri walked. Mailman delivered a one-out double down the right field line to score Matera before Weninger cleared the bases with his first collegiate home run. Burst drove in freshman Bryon Kucharski (East Haven, Conn.) in the seventh to round out the scoring.

Vergara walked two and struck out six and got out of abases-loaded jam in the sixth to pick up the win. Ouellette had three hits for Wentworth, which also got two hits each from Ferri, Hulme, Weninger, Ryan, and Burst. Ouellette finished the day with five hits.

Senior Matt Camara (0-1) was tagged with the loss for Becker.

Wentworth plays Westfield State tomorrow.