SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Freshman Mike Callagee (Emerson, N.J.) pitched the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team to a 4-1 win with a complete game, one-run game one performance in a Commonwealth Coast Conference doubleheader split on Saturday afternoon at Trelease Park. The win was the first in nine meetings for Wentworth over the Golden Bears. The Black & Gold fell in the second game by the score of 16-3.
Wentworth stands at 9-19 (3-9) while Western New England is 22-7 (8-2).
Game One: Wentworth 4, Western New England 1
Freshman Erik Lacaire (Worcester, Mass.) singled into center field to kickstart the Western New England bats in the top of the first. Lacaire tagged up on senior Doug Mline's (Nesconset, N.Y.) deep fly ball to left field that allowed him to plate the first run of the game and put Western New England up 1-0.
Wentworth answered with a run of its own in the home half of the first on an RBI single into right center from junior Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) that scored junior Christian Ferri (Bloomfield, N.J.) to square the game at 1-all. Ferri's single up the middle allowed the go-ahead run to cross and scored freshman Ross Golebiewski (Lyme, Conn.) to take the 2-1 lead after two innings.
In the bottom of the third, the Leopards tacked on two more runs to take the 4-1 lead. Sophomore Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.) began the inning with a single that sailed down the right field line and advanced to second on Burst's single through the left side. On junior Jimmy Temte's (Northborough, Mass.) single to left, a fielding error allowed both Weninger and Burst to score.
The Golden Bears had their chance in the fifth to pull ahead with the bases loaded and one out, but senior Eduardo Colmenares (Caracas, Venezuela) grounded into an inning ending double play and the score remained 4-1 Wentworth. Western New England was retired in order at the top of the seventh as Wentworth took game one by the score of 4-1.
Callagee nabbed the win (2-2) for Wentworth and allowed one unearned run on four hits with two walks and one strikeout through seven innings. Burst paced the Black & Gold going 2-for-2 with two singles, one run scored and one RBI.
Freshman Bob Hamel (Southwick, Mass.) was tagged with his first loss (5-1) and allowed four runs on six hits with four walks and two strikeouts through six innings. Lacaire led Western New England and went 1-for-3 with one run scored.
Game Two: Western New England 16, Wentworth 3
Western New England scored three in the top of the first to take the 3-0 lead. Three consecutive singles from Mline, senior Kevin Marciano (Repperell, Mass.) and Colemnares began game two for the Golden Bears. With one out, freshman Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) had a bases clearing double into left center that crossed three runs.
It was not until Wentworth's half of the fourth that the Leopards put three runs on the board to square the game at 3-all. Burst began the inning off with a single in the left field gap and scored the Leopards' first run on Temte's double into right center field. Senior Johnny Ryan (Brant Rock, Mass.) scored on a wild pitch to put Wentworth down one at 3-2 as sophomore Bryon Kucharski's (East Haven, Conn.) single up the middle was the equalizer.
The Golden Bears regained the lead in the top of the fifth and gave themselves a four run cushion at 7-3. Back-to-back singles from Mline and Marciano put runners on first and second as both scored the go-ahead runs on a double into left center from Colmenares. The sixth Western New England run crossed home on an RBI single from sophomore Steven Rivela (Hudson, Mass.). With the bases loaded, senior Matt Calzone (Middlebury, Conn.) was hit by a pitch and scored junior Daniel Morin (Salem, N.H.) to bring the score to 7-3.
In the top of the sixth, Western New England put the game away as they scored nine runs on five hits to up the score to 16-3.
With runners on the corners, Lacaire drew a one out walk to load up the bases for Western New England. After Lacaire loaded up the bases, Loparco brought the score to 8-3 on the second walk of the inning. The Golden Bears took advantage of the bases being full on Rivela's three RBI triple into right field to push the score to 11-3 with one out still in the inning. Back-to-back doubles from Calzone and Mline and triple from Marciano upped the Golden Bear's lead to 15-3, with the final Western New England run coming in on a wild pitch.
The Leopards had a chance to tack on some more runs in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and second with two outs, but a fly ball concluded the inning as Western New England avoided the sweep and nabbed the 16-3 victory.
Junior Matt Thomas (Plainville, Conn.) got the win for Western New England and gave up one hit through two relief innings. Mline, Marciano and Colmenares powered the Golden Bears, going for a combined 10-for-15 with two doubles, one triple, five RBIs and nine runs scored, while Rivela went 2-for-5 with a triple, one run scored and four RBIs, Loparco went 1-for-3 with a double, one run scored and four RBIs and Calzone went 1-for-3 also with a double, one run scored and two RBIs.
Freshman Ben Rexford (Lancaster, N.H.) was tagged with the loss (1-2) as he allowed seven runs on 10 hits with two walks and two strikeouts through 4.1 innings. Temte led Wentworth and went 2-for-3 with a double, one run scored and one RBI.
Wentworth returns home on Monday to face Roger Williams at 6:30 p.m., while Western New England takes on Nichols on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
