NORTHBORO, Mass. – Clark University baseball split a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) doubleheader with WPI on Saturday as the Engineers came back for an 8-4 victory in game one before an offensive slugfest from the teams resulted in an 18-13 triumph for Clark during game two at NEBC Field.

Clark grabbed its first lead of the day during the fourth inning of game one as senior James Huber (Rochester, N.Y.) crushed a two-run homer to plate classmate Chris Radovic (Fairfield, Conn.) for the 2-0 advantage. WPI responded in the bottom of the fifth as Kyle Johns hit a solo homer to half the deficit, but Huber got it right back for the Cougars in the top of the sixth as he doubled home Radovic for a 3-1 lead. 

WPI came alive for a seven-run seventh inning to swing control of game one, logging six of their nine hits in the game during the frame. WPI would score five runs with two outs in the inning with three coming on a homer to right field from Andrew Brooks. The host was able to take an 8-3 advantage in the inning. 

Clark got another run across in the top half of the eighth as Trevor Ham (North Attleboro, Mass.) dumped a single into left field to bring home Huber. Ham moved to third on a single from Anthony Keefe (Plymouth, Mass.), but WPI was able to escape the inning without further damage. The Cougars were able to get two baserunners in the top of the ninth but were unable to cut further into the lead as the final out was recorded via flyout for the 8-4 final. 

Jafar Vohra (Shelton, Conn.) turned in a stellar performance for the Cougars as he struck out a career-high 11 batters over six innings of work, but was charged with four earned runs to take the loss. 

The bats of the Cougars came alive during game two en route to the 18-13 win as graduate student Derek Lefebvre (Groton, Mass.) drove in four runs and scored three himself with a pair of homers while Radovic smacked his second homer of the season as well for Clark.

The Engineers led 6-2 after three innings and 7-6 after five. The teams traded four-run innings in the sixth, but Clark tied the game with a single run in the seventh and grabbed control with six runs in the eighth, including a two-run double by Steven Mooney (Buffalo, N.Y.) and a two-run homer by Lefebvre. 

For the Cougars, Radovic opened the scoring with a solo home run, and Huber had two more hits and scored twice. Third baseman Billy Sullivan (Hicksville, N.Y.) went 4-5 with two RBI, and Andrew Thibault (Nashua, N.H.) was 3-5 with two RBI and three runs scored. Maxwell Gitlin (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) earned the win after tossing 1.1 innings of relief and striking out two while Nick Guarino (New Haven, Conn.) was perfect over the final 1.2 innings for the Cougars.

Game Details:

Score: WPI 8, Clark 4 (GM1); Clark 18, WPI 13 (GM2)

Records: Clark University (1-5, 1-3 NEWMAC) // WPI (2-4, 2-4 NEWMAC)

Location: New England Baseball Complex (Northboro, Mass.)

Up Next:

Clark University and WPI finish off the weekend home-and-home series on Sunday with the teams scheduled to clash for a doubleheader starting at 11:00 A.M.