Box Score
Box Score

TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer baseball team scored eight runs in the 4th inning, on its way to defeating Western New England College, 13-4, in a rainy, non-league game at Robison Field. With the victory, the Red Hawks have now won nine straight games and improve to 10-4 overall. The Golden Bears fall to 8-5.

RPI junior designated hitter Scott Robinson (Schenectady, NY/Mohonasen) opened the scoring in the 3rd, when he belted a 2-1 pitch over the fence in left for a three-run homer. The opposite field shot, which was his third in as many games, gave the hosts a 3-0 lead.

The Red Hawks opened the game up in the 4th, scoring eight times on just five hits. Camden Mamigonian (Dover, NH/Dover) and Jim Devine (Castleton, NY/Columbia) reached to open the inning, followed by Mike Cieszko (Stevenson Ranch, CA/William S. Hart) RBI single. Later in the in the inning, after a walk to Andrew Krushelnyski (Bloomfield Township, MI/Brother Rice) loaded the bases, Mamigonian drove a bases-clearing double into the left-centerfield gap to make it 11-0.

Shorstop Justin Walz (Groton, CT/Fitch) delivered a two-out RBI-single in the top of the 5th, to get the Golden Bears on the board. Rensselaer answered with two in the bottom of the inning to push its advantage to 13-1. Senior centerfield Sean Wilkes (Troy, NY/Catholic Central) drove home a run with a triple and then scored on a Patrick Reardon (Troy, NY/LaSalle Institute) sacrifice fly.

WNEC plated a run in the 7th on a fielder's choice groundout off the bat of Tom Bouvier (East Longmeadow, MA/East Longmeadow) and added two 9th inning tallies on three hits.

Junior starting pitcher Ryan Washburn (Gansevoort, NY/Schuylerville) earned the victory for RPI, allowed just one unearned run on four hits over 5.0 innings. He struck out five, while walking just one. Graduate student Andrew Biederman (Saratoga, CA/Kings Academy) threw 3.0 innings in relief surrendering one run on three hits and a walk, with six strikeouts.

Wilkes finished 3 for 5, with a triple, two runs scored and two runs batted in. Robinson went 1 for 4 with the home run and four RBIs, while Mamigonian was 1 for 3 with two runs and three RBIs.

Golden Bears starter Evan Michaud (Windsor Locks, CT/Windsor Locks) gave up seven runs on five hits and a walk over 3 1/3 innings. After Paul Dougan (Manchester, CT/Manchester) and Erich Geckle (Baldwin Place, NY) struggled through two innings out of the pen, Matt Sieminski (Madison, CT/Daniel Hand), Mike Lawlor (Windsor, CT/Windsor) and Bouvier combined for 3.0 innings of two-hit relief to close out the game.

Offensively, WNEC was led by junior first baseman Joe Griglun (Southington, CT/Southington), who went 3 for 3. Walz finished 2 for 4 with a run batted in, while pinch hitter Steve Kearney (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) was 1 for 1 with a double and a run scored.

The Red Hawks return to the diamond this weekend for a home-and-home league series with Vassar. RPI travels to Poughkeepsie for a doubleheader on Saturday (1pm), before hosting the Brewers at Robison Field on Sunday (12pm).