Springfield, MA --- The trio of Ryan Powers (Lebanon, CT), Nicolas LeSieur (Walnut Creek, CA), Chris Gens (Avon, CT) tallied falls for WPI wrestling as the Engineers dropped a 30-18 road decision at Division II AIC on Saturday evening. 

The host Yellow Jackets (2-6) captured the first five bouts of the night to race out to a 21-0 advantage before the Crimson and Gray (2-12) came fighting back with pins in three of the final five matches.  

Powers got the guests on the board at 165 pounds when he pinned his opponent at 3:28. Two bouts later LeSieur had his hand raised with six seconds remining in the first period via a fall at 184.  After an AIC victory at 197, Gens closed out the contest with a pin at 3:48 at heavyweight.  

Jerry Echevarria (Long Beach, NY) got the hosts off to a good start with an 8-3 victory at 125 pounds and was followed by an Aaron Morocho (Bristol, CT) 20-7 major decision at 133. Sean Johnson (Ashford, CT) recorded the middle win of the Yellow Jackets opening match run with a 12-8 triumph at 141 before Tommy Nichols (Bristol, CT) collected a first period pin at 149. 157-pounder Baltazar Gonzalez (Williamantic, CT) closed the spurt with an 18-2 tech fall at 5:46. 

Other winners for AIC included Alfred MacNeill (Malone, NY) with a second period fall at 174 pounds and Justin Osler (Branford, CT) with a hard-earned 10-5 win at 197.

The Engineers enjoyed success in the exhibition bouts, claiming two of the three matches by fall.  Isaac Krieger (Newton, MA) pinned his opponent at 141 pounds at 4:07 and heavyweight William Gunn (Easthampton, MA) did the same to his foe at 1:16 of his match. 

WPI turns its attention to a busy stretch next weekend, traveling to Western New England for a 7pm matchup on Friday before hosting Springfield on Senior Day on Saturday at 3pm in the Sports & Recreation Center.  AIC is back in action on Friday at a quad hosted by Bridgewater State with Rhode Island College and Trinity.