Weekly sports update - results from March 2 to March 8

by Geoff Hassard - Sports Information Director

Baseball (2-9)

The baseball season is in full swing and the weather has been cooperating enough for the Engineers to play their games. It has been cold, but all-in-all it has been good enough. WPI began their northern schedule, after returning from Florida with a record of 1-6, to play Babson College a week ago Saturday before coming home to play Worcester State. They ended their week with a trip to Dudley, Mass. to play Nichols on Thursday.

Versus Babson, the Engineers got two good pitching performances from Guy Miller (W. Barnstable, MA) and Jim Blum (Worcester, MA), but were silent at the plate as the Beavers swept a doubleheader 3-0 and 4-0. The Engineers could only muster six hits in the two games.

Opening day at WPI brought the Lancers of Worcester State across the city for a single game. With the wind blowing out, the baseballs were sure to be flying. The Lancers scored two runs in their first inning on a two-run homer, but WPI bounced back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of that inning. Scott Townsend Hollis, ME) led off the inning by being hit and scored on an Aviv Kaufmann (Shrewsbury, MA) double. The next batter was Miller and he set a line drive deep to center field for a two-run home run. WPI was trailing 6-5 entering the bottom of the seventh when they took advantage of some bad pitching by the Lancers. WPI loaded the bases and went ahead for good when Justin Downing (Leominster, MA) was walked to force in a run. WPI didn't stop there. Townsend broke the game open with a two-run single to make the score 9-6. WPI added to their total in the bottom of the eighth when they scored three more runs for the final 12-6. Tim Tully (Greenville, RI) pitched five scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win for WPI. Miller was the hitting star as he drove in four runs with two, two-run homers and scored four runs. Kaufmann also had a strong day scoring three runs.

Thursday the Engineers played Nichols College. They fell behind 5-0 and made a run in the eighth inning, but couldn't pull off the comeback as they dropped a close one 5-3. Jim Blum (Worcester, MA) pitched a complete game. Tom Michalowski (Northampton, MA) had two RBI's in the game.

Softball (0-1)

The softball team opened their season Thursday versus those same Lancers of Worcester State, unfortunately the result was different as WPI fell 8-4. WPI was behind 4-1 at the end of the first inning. Although they put together three runs in the bottom of the fifth, they were not able to get any closer. Highlights for the Engineers were, Steph Torrey (Worcester, MA) had two hits and stole home and Tracy Langis (Westport, MA) had two hits.

Men's Track (3-0)

The men's track team opened a week ago Saturday at the freezing, but friendly confines of Alumni Track. It was not the most ideal of conditions for personal bests, but adequate enough to compete. The Engineers ended up smoking the competition by scoring 140 points. The next closest was Eastern Connecticut with 40, then Worcester state with 14 and finally Clark with 7.

The long list of scorers was headed by Jeff Coleman (Rehoboth, MA) who won both the long jump and 110-meter high hurdles. The rest of the list is as follows: Brian McKenna (Pawtucket, RI) won the hammer; Mike Pockoski (Dayville, CT) won the discus and placed fourth in the shot put; Dave LaFleur won the shot put; Chris Neumaier (Vernon, CT) won the javelin; Marc Lefebvre (Adams, MA) won the high jump; David Bowler (Cumberland, RI) won the pole vault; David Hawes (Seal Harbor, ME) won the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter intermediate hurdles; Steve LaBranche (Uncasville, CT) was a double winner in the 400 and 1,500-meter run; Bruce Meacham (Exeter, NH) won the 3,000-meter steeplechase; Dan Sadowski (Ashfield, MA) placed second in the discus and shot put; Stan Farrell (Augusta, ME) placed in four events as he was second in the triple jump, second in the pole vault, third in the javelinand fourth in the long jump; Doug Martin (Biddeford, ME) placed second in the 110 hurdles and fourth in the 400 hurdles; Dan Nashold (Rocky Hill, CT) took second in the 200-meter dash and third in the 100; Peter Manolakis (Peabody, MA) finished second in the 400 run; Tyler Lupien (Waldoboro, ME) took second in the 400 hurdles and second in the 3,000 steeplechase; Rick Crispo (Andover, MA) was second in the 800-meter run; Tim Caldwell (Dover-Foxcroft, ME) finished second in the 1,500; Aaron Korthas (Gloucester, MA) placed third in the hammer; Ben Linnus (Westminster, MA) took third in both the discus and shot and fourth in the hammer; Chris Brennan (Providence, RI) placed third in the long jump; Mike Bugbee (Plympton, MA) placed third in the triple jump; David Dion (Auburn, MA) placed third in the 200; Keith Levesque (Nashua, NH) finished third in 400 run; Bill Freed (Stockton, NJ) placed third in the 400 hurdles and fourth in 110 hurdles; Rich Person (Sutton, MA) took third in the 800; Frank Murphy (New Britain, CT) placed third in the 5,000-meter run; Dan Atkinson (Dedham, MA) placed fourth in the pole vault; Brian Burwick (Acton, MA) placed fourth in the 200.

Women's Track (3-0)

The women's track team competed along with the men at the same meet. They were victorious as well,as they accumulated 78 points. Eastern Connecticut was second with 44, Worcester State was third with 35 and Clark was fourth with 12.

We had three triple placewinners as Sunny Hwang (Manchester, CT), Heather Mazzaccaro (Bristol, CT) and Tina Gallos (Manchester, NH) all had strong afternoons. Hwang won both the 100-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles as well as placing third in the shot put. Mazzaccaro placed second in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes and took fourth in the javelin. Gallos won the triple jump, placed third in the 100 hurdles and took second in the high jump. We had a few double event place-finishers as well. Elaine Mongeon (Southbridge, MA) won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles and placed third in the high jump. Heather Cleary (Pembroke, MA) won the long jump and placed third in the 200. Sue Shorrock (N. Smithfield, RI) placed second in the 1,500 and fourth in the high jump. Patty Panlilio (Holyoke, MA) took second in the hammer and third in the discus. Sue MacPherson (Hudson, MA) placed fourth in both the hammer and discus. Alison Keach (Chepatchet, RI) placed fourth in both the 100 and 200. Ellen Roach (Plainville, MA) finished second in the discus. Rachel Kupcinskas (Millbury, MA) was second in the triple jump. Vicky Dulac (Manchester, NH) placed second in the 400-meter run. Sarah Wilcox (Wakefield, MA) took second in the 3,000-meter run. Janel Lanphere (Westerly, RI) was second in the 5,000-meter run. Melanie Heck (W. Buxton, ME) placed third in the 400 run. Jody Terranova (Westerly, RI) finished third in the 400 hurdles.