BOX SCORE

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. - Fourth-seeded WPI scored seven runs in the top of the fifth inning to break the game open in an eventual 15-5 victory over eighth-seeded Babson College in a winners' bracket matchup in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament New England Regional at Eastern Connecticut State on Thursday evening.

With the loss, the Beavers (23-19) will now play seventh-seeded Husson University in an elimination game on Friday at 1:15 p.m. WPI will take on the winner of Friday's morning contest between #2 Southern Maine and #3 Trinity at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.

Sophomore Billy Besinger (Milton, Mass.) went 2-for-5 with a run scored in defeat for Babson, marking his team-leading 22nd multi-hit game of the season. It also gave him 68 total hits for the year, tying the program's single-season record also held by Babson great Kevin Higa '03.

Junior Brian Scanlon (Lawrenceville, N.J.) and first-year Sean Cleary (Milton, Mass.) joined Besinger with two hits and one run scored for Babson, while Cleary also knocked in a run. Senior co-captain Jeff Wojnar (Bellaire, Texas) started and took the loss for the Beavers, going 4 1/3 innings and giving up nine earned runs to fall to 2-5 on the season.

WPI received an outstanding pitching effort from junior starter Nolan Murphy (Shrewsbury, Mass.), who gave up four earned runs and struck out two in 7 1/3 innings. The win improved his record to 8-2 on the year, tying senior teammate Conor Fahey (Cumberland, R.I.) for the Engineers' record for victories in a season.

Junior Paul Galligan (Weymouth, Mass.) paced WPI at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a homer, three runs scored, and three RBIs. Senior Scott McNee (Falmouth, Mass.) also had a big game, finishing 3-for-5 with a home run, a run, and four driven in, and first-year Nick Bean (Middleboro, Mass.) added a 3-for-6 performance with two runs and an RBI. Juniors Mark Dignum (Albany, N.Y.) and Joe Walsh (Weymouth, Mass.) each contributed matching lines of 2-for-5 with a run and two RBIs, and junior Cody McGregor (Westfield, Mass.) chipped in with a hit, two runs, and two knocked in.

WPI jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, as Galligan and Matt Moreau (Manchester, N.H.) hit back-to-back singles with one out. McNee then launched a towering double off the wall in left, scoring both runners and spotting the Engineers to a 2-0 advantage.

The Engineers tacked on another run in the third, as Galligan hit a one-out single, moved to second on a two-out hit by McNee, and scored on a line drive single up the middle by Bean.

Babson got one run back in the bottom of the third, beginning when junior Jake Bartlett (Weymouth, Mass.) led off with a double over the left fielder's head. He then moved to third on a groundout to first by sophomore Corey Highfield (East Hampstead, N.H.) and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by junior Peter O'Toole (Salem, Mass.).

WPI broke the game open in the fifth, scoring seven runs on seven hits, including a pair of long balls. After Dignum led off with a single to right center, Galligan ripped a two-run homer over the wall in left to make it a 5-2 contest. An infield error then put a man on for McNee, who launched the Engineers' second two-run blast of the inning over the scoreboard in left to extend his team's advantage to 7-2. WPI would tack on three more in the frame, highlighted by an RBI single to left by Cody McGregor and a two-run double to right center by Walsh, to take a 10-2 lead midway through the game.

The Engineers continued their offensive onslaught in the sixth, scoring four runs on two hits, two walks, two hit batsmen, and an error. McGregor forced in one of the runs with a bases loaded free pass, and Dignum later struck the big blow of the inning with a two-run single down the left field line.

Babson plated its third run when first-year Travis Jonasson (Needham, Mass.) scampered home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth, and senior Bryan Evans (Bellaire, Texas) made it 14-4 when he singled in Besinger in the seventh. Galligan later knocked in Walsh with a single in the eighth to push WPI's lead back to 11 before Highfield plated Cleary with a fielder's choice groundout in the bottom of the inning, resulting in the 15-5 final.