Baseball Battles Back to Split With WPI
Jordan Burst's walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth lifted the Leopards to a 3-2 win after dropping the first game to the Engineers by the same score
AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Jordan Burst's (Jackson, N.J.) walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning capped off a three-run rally to help the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team earn a split with WPI in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Lake Myrtle Park. Burst's heroics gave the Leopards a 3-2 win after the Engineers' Nick Comei (Billerica, Mass.) delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh of the first game to give WPI a 3-2 win.
Wentworth trailed 2-1 and down to its last out in the top of the seventh inning when Jimmy Temte (Northboro, Mass.) blasted his second homer of the season to left field to tie the game. Sean Kelly (Shrewsbury, Mass.) led off the bottom of the seventh for the Engineers with a single and, after a pair of strikeouts by Leopard reliever Dakota Baird (Bermuda Dunes, Calif.), moved to third on a stolen base and a wild pitch. That set the stage for Comei, who deposited a line drive of the head of the shortstop to make a winner out of the Engineers.
The Leopards struck early when Christian Ferri (Bloomfield, N.J.) led off the game with a single through the right side and Joe Hulme (Tewkesbury, Mass.) quickly followed with a double to right center before Jake Mailman (Medway, Mass.) delivered a sacrifice fly to center. WPI countered in the bottom of the second inning Alex Venditti (Newton, Mass.) poked a double down the left field line and scored after Zach Blanchard (Warwick, R.I.) parachuted a ball down the left field line.
WPI went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, taking advantage of a pair of Leopard errors that led to Sean Greene (Hingham, Mass.) trotting home on a DJ Ouellette (Watertown, Conn.) bloop single.
Engineer starter Mike Vaitkunas (Auburn, Mass.) settled down after the rocky start and allowed seven hits and walked none while punching out a pair while the distance to earn the win. Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.) was solid on the hill for Wentworth. The rookie was tagged with just one earned run in six innings of work and struck out six.
The Engineers jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in opening frame of game two when Venditti chased home Greene with an RBI double and scored himself on a bases loaded walk to Anthony Capuano (Stoneham, Mass.). Wentworth leveled the slate in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run single by Sam McManus (Hopkinton, N.H.) that plated Weninger and Burst.
The game remained knotted at 2-2 until the bottom of the eighth. Greg Confessore (West Harford, Conn.) led off with a single to right and moved to second on an Anthony Matera (Trumbull, Conn.) sacrifice. After Temte was walked intentionally, Mailman lashed a hard single to right to load the bases. It looked like WPI would wiggle out of the one-out jam a following a fly out to shallow left but Burst laced a 1-1 pitch to right center to earn the split.
Johnny Ryan (Marshfield, Mass.) worked around a two-out walk to earn his first victory in relief for Wentworth. Bram Grooten (Eindhoven, Netherlands) provided the Leopards four shutout innings of relief after Ferri worked the opening three frames. WPI lefthander Steven D'Agostino (Shrewsbury, Mass.) was the tough luck loser for the Engineers. The rookie scattered seven hits and fanned eight while going the distance.
After a day off on Thursday, Wentworth (4-2) is back in action on Friday with a doubleheader against Wittenberg. WPI (4-2) plays SUNY Poly in a twinbill on Thursday morning.