Worcester, MA- The Lancer baseball team lost a heartbreaker this afternoon to Worcester Polytechnic Institute at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Massachusetts. Though the final score would favor WPI by a score of 12-11, Worcester State came all the way back from a 10-3 deficit that made the mid-March battle all the more compelling.

WPI jumped out to an immediate lead, plating three runs in the first inning. The third inning provided a rare feat in the game of baseball, with the Lancers scoring three runs without ever recording a hit. Nonetheless, the blue and gold manufactured what they needed to pull even.
WPI came storming back in the bottom of the third with seven runs, but the Lancers did not give in. Freshman Joe Auger (Lowell, Mass.) got things started with a double, and Tyler Smith (sophomore; Leominster, Mass.) brought home with a base hit. Senior Alex Sorenti-Burns (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) picked up a pair of RBI with sophomore Anthony Iamorone (Providence, R.I.) tacking on another to pull the Lancers with three by a score of 10-7.

Senior pitcher Brett Bucklin (Lynn, Mass.), who had come in relief to get the final out of the third inning, struck out the side in the bottom of the fourth, providing a much-needed shut-down inning for the Lancers. Bucklin was fantastic out of the bullpen, guiding Worcester State through 5.1 innings of scoreless pitching in which he allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out five.

The Lancers continued to chip away at the WPI lead in the latter half of the ballgame, bringing a run across in the 6th and 7th inning to make it a one-run game. In the eighth innings sophomore Xavier Quezada (Providence, R.I.) tied it up with a long single. Later in the frame, with the bases loaded and two outs, junior Tom Halliwell (Leominster, Mass.) put together a masterful at bat to draw a walk and give Worcester State their first lead of the game.

The ninth inning would play out in heartbreaking fashion, as WPI walked off on a hit by pitch to spoil the Lancers come-back effort.

The loss makes Worcester State 4-8 a couple weeks into their season, while WPI now boasts a 10-6 record. The Lancers will be back in action to take on yet another Worcester school at noon on Sunday. Clark University will play host for the Lancer/Cougar battle.