CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Trailing by one with two outs in the bottom of the eight inning, sophomore catcher Anthony Searles (Shelton, Conn.) hit a go-ahead two-run homer, to lift UMass Boston baseball (15-12) past host MIT (18-10) Thursday afternoon at Briggs Field.
Searles' two-run homer gave the Beacons a 6-5 advantage and senior Josh Cummiskey (Lowell, Mass.) closed the door on the Engineers in the ninth, to record his team-leading third save of the season. The win helped UMass Boston snap a three-game losing streak against MIT, which had included back-to-back walk-off loses.
For Searles, the home run marked his second in three games and the second collegiate homer for the sophomore backstop. Bryan Dupre (Chicopee, Mass.), who had come on to pinch-run for Todd Ezold (Westfield, Mass.), scored ahead of Searles on the play.
Ezold moved his hitting streak to five in a row, as the senior recorded a team-best two hits and two runs scored, while adding an RBI single.
Senior lefty pitcher Harlan Zeerip (Bridgewater, Mass.) picked up his first win of the season in the victory. Zeerip held MIT to just two hits and no runs over the course of two innings, to help UMass Boston win their fifth contest in the past six games.
Freshman Bryan Kaufman (Farmingdale, N.Y.) made his first collegiate start in the contest and he lasted five innings, while giving up four runs, two earned. Kaufman scattered six hits and struck out three, to limit an MIT offense that had averaged 9.8 runs per game over their last five games.
David Hesslink took the loss for the Engineers, as he allowed two runs on one hit and one walk in the eighth inning.
The Beacons opened the scoring in the top of the third thanks to a two-out error by the Engineers. With MIT starter Zach Michaud having retired the first eight batters he faced, Sal Frosceno (Derby, Conn.) reached on an error with two outs. Frosceno stole second and took third on a wild pitch, before Josh Lopez (New Haven, Conn.) drove him in with an RBI single.
UMass Boston tacked on three more runs in the top of the fourth, with three hits and a walk in the inning. After a lead-off single by Daniel Mantoni (Northbridge, Mass.), Ezold belted a double to left-center field to score Mantoni and make it 2-0. Two batters later, Ezold came in to score on a wild pitch, while Luke Nagle (Pembroke, Mass.) worked a one-out walk. Nagle moved over to third on a single by Trevor Bouvier (Salem, N.H.) and crossed the plate on an RBI groundout from Daniel Bonito (Swampscott, Mass.) to give UMass Boston a 4-0 advantage.
MIT responded back with two unearned runs in the fourth, as the Engineers recorded a pair of doubles in the inning.
The hosts grabbed a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to a pair of wild pitches. MIT recorded back-to-back hits to start the inning to end Kaufman's day.
Steve Consiglio (Southbury, Conn.) came out of the pen and retired back-to-back batters with just one run coming in, before he threw back-to-back wild pitches to allow the tying and go-ahead runs to scamper home.
Consiglio would be picked up by his teammates though, as Zeerip shut down the Engineers in the seventh, before Searles came through in the eight.
With two down and no one on base, Ezold worked a walk, before being pinch-ran for by Dupre. Searles followed with a homer deep over the left-field fence to give the Beacons the lead for good.
UMass Boston will return to action Saturday against Plymouth State University at Campanelli Stadium. The new start-time for Saturday's Little East Conference doubleheader will be announced Friday afternoon.