Northboro, MA --- The WPI baseball team saw its undefeated start come to an end on Tuesday afternoon, falling to Roger Williams, 15-12, in a high-scoring contest at the New England Baseball Complex. The Engineers move to 8-1 on the season, while the Hawks improve to 6-4.
 
Roger Williams used a six-run third inning to build a lead it would not relinquish, though WPI battled back and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning.
 
Chuck Cappello (Southboro, MA) powered the Engineers with a three-run home run and three RBI. Miles Pratt (Hampton, NH) went 3-for-5 with a triple and four RBI, while Joe DiMichele (East Longmeadow, MA) added two hits and scored twice. Zachary Roethlein (Pomfret Center, CT) also recorded two hits and drove in a run.
 
Roger Williams was led by Will Florio (San Jose, CA), who drove in eight runs on five hits, including a pair of three-run home runs. Noah Hester (Old Saybrook, CT) drove in two runs, while Sam Arcieri (Westwood, NJ) added an RBI as part of the Hawks' offensive effort.
 
Ryan Camp (Cheshire, CT) earned the win for the Hawks, while Tyler DiCecco (Rumford, RI) closed it out to earn the save, recording the final six outs. Andrew Burke (Walpole, MA) was charged with the loss for WPI after allowing three runs in the opening inning. The Engineers used eight pitchers in the game, with Ethan Smith (Hanson, MA) and Robert Runge (Manasquan, NJ) each logging multi-inning relief appearances and Damon Chase (Rye, NY) hurled a 1-2-3 fifth inning
 
Roger Williams jumped out to an early lead in the first inning on Florio's first three-run home run and added another run in the second to go up 4-0.
 
WPI answered in the second inning with three runs, highlighted by RBI singles from Pratt and Roethlein along with a balk that brought home another run to cut the deficit to 4-3.
 
The Hawks broke the game open in the third with six runs to extend the lead to 10-3. The inning was fueled by a bases-loaded walk, a wild pitch that brought home a run, a fielding error, and a three-run home run from Florio.
 
The Engineers responded immediately in the bottom half, as Pratt delivered a two-run triple and Andrew Flamini (Shelton, CT) added an RBI groundout to make it 10-6.
 
After Roger Williams added a run in the fourth on an RBI single from Nick Dimaso (Cortlandt Manor, NY), Cappello launched a three-run home run in the fifth to pull WPI within 11-9.
 
WPI continued to chip away in the sixth, scoring on a Pratt RBI groundout to make it a one-run game at 11-10.
 
Roger Williams answered with two runs in the seventh on RBI hits from Florio and Arcieri and added another in the eighth on an RBI double from Hester to push the lead back to four.
 
The Engineers mounted one final push in the eighth, scoring twice on bases-loaded hit-by-pitches to trim the deficit to 14-12.
 
In the ninth, Roger Williams added an insurance run on a sacrifice fly. WPI put two runners on with two outs in the bottom half, bringing the tying run to the plate, but could not complete the comeback as a groundout ended the game.
 
WPI returns to action on Thursday, March 19, hosting Suffolk at 3:30pm at the New England Baseball Complex. Roger Williams next travels to Tufts for a 3pm contest on Thursday.