The Oglethorpe baseball team ran up against good starting pitching Saturday afternoon at Anderson Field, and couldn't get much going offensively until the middle innings against the visiting MIT Engineers. By that point, though, the visitors built a 6-1 lead on the Stormy Petrels and the home team was unable to recover in a 6-4 defeat. The result dropped the Petrels to 7-10 on the season.
The Petrels got a decent outing from junior right-hander Matt Davis, who was dominant at times, striking out 11 MIT batters and allowing just 3 earned runs. However, he allowed 11 hits and 6 total runs on the afternoon and suffered the loss. The defeat dropped him to 3-2 on the season.
The Engineers began the game with a pair of unearned runs in the first inning. The Petrels answered with a single run in the second when senior right fielder Brandon Fish reached on a 2-base error and advanced to third on a groundout. Sophomore first baseman Andrew Mink followed with a sacrifice fly, cutting the MIT lead in half. The visitors scored a run in the third, though, then came back with three in the fourth, one of them unearned, putting themselves ahead 6-1.
Oglethorpe slowly worked their way back into the game, tallying single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Mink doubled down the line to start the fifth, then advanced to third on a single from freshman shortstop Bryan Kowalski. Junior left fielder Britton Araujo came through after that with a double to right, scoring Mink and cutting the MIT lead to 6-2. In the sixth, Fish reached on an infield single with one out and Mink came through with an RBI double two batters later, making it 6-3.
The Engineers held the Petrels at bay until the ninth inning after that, though. In the ninth, Mink and third baseman Connor Crooke led off the frame with singles. The next two batters made outs, though, leaving runners at first and second with two away in the inning. An MIT wild pitch scored Mink, but the Petrels were unable to get anything further.
Mink had his best game of the season so far, tallying a perfect 3-for-3 day with 2 doubles, a sacrifice fly, 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Fish went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, while Crooke went 2-for-4, as well.
The Petrels will complete their 3-game set with MIT on Sunday, when the two teams face off at noon from Anderson Field. After that, Oglethorpe will hit the road to go against Covenant Tuesday on Lookout Mountain, then travel to Tennessee to take on Sewanee in a 3-game series next weekend.