MANSFIELD, Conn. --  Fifth-seeded Suffolk University rallied to tie the game by scoring four times in the top of the eighth inning, but fourth-seeded WPI answered with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame and went on to post its first NCAA tournament victory in its first try, 7-6, Wednesday morning in the opening game of the 2009 NCAA Division III New England Regional Tournament at the Eastern Baseball Stadiuim.

WPI (29-11) is scheduled to play a winners' bracket game in the eight-team double-elimination tournament Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The Engineers will play the winner of Wednesday's second game between top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University and eighth-seeded Babson College. Suffolk (30-10) will play an elimination game Thursday at 10 a.m. against the Eastern-Babson loser.

A winner of seven straight, WPI broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth on No. 9 hitter Joe Walsh's (Weymouth, Mass.) RBI single to right field which scored Bryant Watkins (Belmont, Mass.) from second Watkins had singled to open the inning and was sacrificed to second by Cody McGregor (Westfield, Mass.).

Limited to two runs on four hits through the first seven innings by Conor Fahey (Cumberland, R.I.), Suffolk broke through to tie the game at 6-all with four runs in the eighth inning on three hits, two walks and an error. Team batting leader Keith Carter (Newburyport, Mass.) had a bases-clearing double in the inning following an outfield error, and the Rams tied the game on Jon Handy's (South Burlington, Vt.) single to left.

Neither starting pitcher figured in the decision. Freshman senior Sean Minor (Los Angeles, Calif.) pitched a scoreless ninth to nail down the win with his first save, but needed an outfield fly ball to end the game after the Rams put two runners on a hit batter and two-out single. Fahey fanned 11 before being lifted in the eighth.

The top three hitters in the WPI lineup combined for five of the team's 11 hits. Matt Moreau (Manchester, N.H.) was 2-for-4 with  two RBI and Paul Galligan (Weymouth, Mass.) had two hits and scored two runs.

Carter had a double, triple and his first home run of the year and drove in four of his team's six runs, but no other Suffolk hitter had more than one.

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