TROY, N.Y. – The Williams College baseball hit three home runs in the sixth inning, en route to a 12-5 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), on Wednesday afternoon at Robison Field at Karl Steffen Ballpark. With the win, the Ephs open the season at 1-0, while the Engineers drop to 4-4.

Williams got on the board in the first inning, picking up a hit and a walk after two were out, before freshman Brendan Stannard singled home Jakob Cohn from second.

RPI took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second, thanks to a towering double off the bat of fifth-year senior Hudson Livesey and an Ephs throwing error later in the frame, that allowed Livesey to score from third.

The Engineers made it a 4-1 game in the fourth inning, when graduate student Joe Curci doubled home a pair with two outs in the frame. George Rainer and Joey Saia, who each walked, came around to score.

Williams re-took the lead for good in the sixth, scoring four runs on just four hits. David Driscoll lead off the frame with a single, before Stannard hit the first of back-to-back homers. Catcher Kedar Veeraswamy followed with a long ball to tie the game 4-4. After a groundout, Mike Glove launched the Ephs third homer of the inning and a 5-4 edge in the contest.

An error-plagued top of the seventh followed, as Williams tacked on five more runs. The inning was highlighted by a two-run triple that Glove sliced into the right field corner, plating Matthew Brown and Veeraswamy. Glove later scored on a wild pitch for a 10-4 lead.

The Engineers got one run back in the bottom half, when Aysh Krishnappa delivered a sacrifice fly, but the Ephs answered in the ninth, adding two insurance runs on double to the gap in left center off the bat of Ryan Young.

James Murray (1-0) picked up the win on the hill for Williams working 3.0 shutout innings of relief. He struck out three and walked one. Nick Skiera picked up the 3.0-inning save, giving up one hit and striking out three. Michael Castello (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing four runs on four hits in 1.1 innings. He worked a perfect fifth, before failing to get out of the sixth.

At the plate, Stannard went 3 for 5 with a double, a home run, a run scored and three runs batted in. RPI had three players pick up two hits each, including Jack Moncur, who was 2 for 5 and Krishnappa, who finished 2 for 4 with an RBI and a stolen base.

The Engineers are back in action on Friday, when they host Sage College for a doubleheader (2pm). Williams faces SUNY Cobleskill for two on Sunday in Florida (1pm).