Weekly sports update results from April 14 through April 20
by Geoff Hassard - Sports Information Director
Softball (7-15)
The softball team is beginning to settle into a groove as they prepare for the New England Women's Eight Conference Tournament this week. At press time they are 4-4 in conference play with Smith and MIT waiting. The Engineers have gotten some solid pitching performances as of late which is encouraging to Coach Quinn. April 14, WPI was matched against first place Wheaton who was undefeated in conference play. In the first game, WPI had the lead early but couldn't protect it as Wheaton won 7-4. Sophomores Stephanie Torrey and Lynn Kearnan led the way with each collecting three hits. Kearnan also knocked in two runs while Torrey drove in one.
In the second game, Wheaton jumped out to an early lead and held off a late charge by WPI to win 9-7. Seniors Amy Mercier and Renee Cusson had solid games at the plate. Mercier had three hits, including a double, and a stolen base while Cusson had two hits and an RBI.
The next day, WPI hosted Babson College in another doubleheader in the conference. Behind the strong pitching of senior Jen Anderson, WPI won 3-2. Senior Jen DeLuca picked up a save in relief of Anderson. Torrey collected two hits and an RBI and junior captain Tracy Langis also had two hits and a stolen base to lead WPI.
In the second game, the Engineers got another strong pitching performance from freshman Kerry Mallon who pitched a two-hit complete game shutout, the first of her college career. She was helped by Kearnan who was 2 for 4 with three RBIs as WPI won 7-0.
Last Tuesday, April 18, WPI traveled south to Rhode Island College for a single game. This game it was DeLuca's turn to shine as she threw a three-hit complete game shutout as the Engineers won 5-0. Mercier had two hits in the game and Langis drove in two runs to help lead WPI.
Wednesday, th 19th, the rain subsided long enough for the Engineers to play a single game with Anna Maria. The game went into extra innings before WPI ended the game in the bottom of the eighth when Langis stole third and scored on a pass ball for the 3-2 win. Mallon got the win in relief of Anderson. Kearnan and Torrrey each had two hits to help WPI win their fourth game in a row.
Baseball (10-10)
On April 15, WPI hosted Babson College in a very important Constitution Athletic Conference doubleheader. WPI was in first place and Babson was in third, but with a chance to move into first if they beat us in both games. The Engineers were hoping to sweep the Beavers, but at least split to remain in first place.
In the first game, the bats were alive as WPI pounded out 13 hits and scored eight runs en route to an 8-5 win. Junior captain Eric Dubois got things started in the second inning when he hit a solo home run to deep left field. The next inning the bats continued to assault Beaver pitching, scoring four more runs as sophomore Tim Doyle drove in a pair of runs and Dubois drove in the other two. In the game, freshmen Alex Bartkin and Pat Noonan had solid games. Noonan went 4 for 4 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored while Bartkin went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs. Freshman Guy Miller picked up the win and sophomore Mike Hager got the save in relief.
In the second game, Babson jumped out to an early lead 2-0 before WPI came back to take the lead with four runs in the second, powered by a three-run home run by junior captain Tom Michalowski. The Beavers took the lead back 6-4 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning when Bartkin hit a rocket to right field that hit Harrington Auditorium. It was a three-run home run which catapulted WPI back into the lead 7-6. Babson scored three runs in the top half of the sixth and held on for the 9-7 win.
Last Thursday, the 13th, the Engineers took on cross-town rival Clark in another CAC match up. WPI needed to take both games to keep their chances alive for the conference title. Junior Matt Whitten flirted with a perfect game through 5-1/3 innings before walking a batter. With a chance at a no-hitter, the next batter singled to break it up. This would be the only blemish on the day as he pitched a one-hit shutout as the Engineers won 3-0. In the nightcap, the bats took over as Bartkin paced WPI to a 13-4 win with four hits and four RBIs.
Men's Tennis (1-5)
The men's tennis team participated in the Constitution Athletic Conference Championships a week ago Saturday, April 15, at Coast Guard. They ended up finishing in sixth place out of seven teams. They lost to Babson in the first round 4-0. They defeated Norwich in the consolation semifinal 3-1 before losing the consolation final to Western New England 3-1. Coach Young was pleased with the way the team showed in the matches. In the Norwich match, singles winners were sophomores John Allan and John Park. Winning in doubles was the team of sophomore Ranjit Kher and freshman Vladislav Zilberman. Allan was the only winner in singles for the match versus Western New England.
Last Tuesday, the 18th, the Engineers hosted Holy Cross in a match that had been rescheduled. Holy Cross proved to be too strong as they took the match 9-0.
Men's Golf (2-2)
The golf team hosted Emerson College last Tuesday (April 18) at the friendly confines of Holden Hills Country Club. WPI took the match 357-385 behind strong performances by senior Bill Tyrrell and juniors Brian Klauber and Steve Frechette who all scored in the 80's. Tyrrell was the low man with an 86.
Men's Track (5-4)
The men's track team competed against Trinity College on Saturday, April 15 and came up on the short end of a 95-69 score. Scoring for the Engineers were: freshman Brian Susol took third in the discus; senior Jim Beardsley was a double winner, taking first in the high jump and javelin; freshman Chris Neumaier placed second in the javelin; senior Stan Farrell completed the sweep in the javelin by placing third as well as finishing second in the pole vault; sophomore Dan Sadowski took third in the shot put; junior Dana Schlosser won the hammer throw; freshman Brian McKenna was second in the hammer throw; senior Jason DeJoannis placed second in the high jump; freshman David Bowler finished third in the pole vault; junior Bruce Meachem was first in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and second in the 5,000-meter run; senior Chris Reilly was second in the 3,000 steeplechase; junior Joe Danubio placed second in the 1,500-meter run; sophomore Tim Caldwell finished third in the 1,500; sophomore Doug Martin took second in the 110-meter high hurdles; sophomore Peter Manolakos finished third in the 400-meter run; freshman Kyle Heppenstall placed second in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200-meter dash; freshman David Hawes won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles and finished third in the 100; junior Steve Labranche won the 800-meter run; junior Rich Person finished second in the 800; junior Ian Quinn placed third in the 5,000.
Over the past few meets, we have had more athletes qualify for the New England Division III Championships. Junior Chris Moore has qualified in the long jump. Beardsley has qualified in the high jump. Schlosser has qualified in the hammer throw and is very close to meeting the standard for the Nationals. Our mile relay team, consisting of Manolakos, Person, Hawes and Labranche have also qualified.
Women's Track (6-4)
The women's team also competed at Trinity with Coast Guard to make it a tri-meet. The women were edged out by Coast Guard for second place by a point. Trinity won the meet with 86 points with Coast Guard second with 43 and WPI had 42 points. Scoring in the meet for WPI were: senior Cindy Moser who was second in the long jump; freshman Heather Mazzaccaro who placed second in the javelin; junior Sunny Hwang was second in the 100-meter dash and first in the shot put; sophomore Rachel Kupcinskas finished third in the 400-meter run and first in the triple jump; freshman Ellen Roach placed second in the shot put and first in the discus; senior Brooke Kuffel finished third in the shot put and junior Elaine Mongeon was third in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles.
Return to this week's Index
newspeak@wpi.edu