THE BASICS:
- Records: MIT (1-0); No. 11 UMass Boston (2-1)
- Scores: MIT 9, No. 11 UMass Boston 5
- Location: Boston, Mass. (Monan Park)
- The Lead: Trailing by a 5-2 margin after six innings, the MIT baseball team closed the game with seven unanswered runs as the Engineers rallied past No. 11 UMass Boston for a 9-5 season-opening victory. The Engineers now hold a 23-14 advantage in the all-time series as MIT snapped a four-game losing streak to the Beacons.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Engineers jumped on the board in the top of the first as senior Tony Rice (Colorado Springs, Colo.) doubled down the right field line with one out. Senior Matt Johnston (Portola Valley, Calif.) then reached on an error by the second baseman and Rice came around to score on the play for the 1-0 edge. MIT added a run in the third on an RBI single from junior Andrew Krause (St. Louis, Mo.) that plated Johnston with the two-out run. Johnston had reached with a double down the left field line and the visitors held a 2-0 edge.
- MIT junior pitcher Casey Bussone (Danvers, Mass.) took the game into the fifth inning with the Beacons scoreless before the hosts struck for a run. Steve Brookwell singled with two outs to score Ryan Leung with an unearned run, followed by a Ryan McCormick single that chased Bussone. Junior Tommy Hannan (San Marino, Calif.) came on in relief and quickly got Nick Cotraro to fly out to third for the final out and the score at 2-1.
- With two outs in the sixth, the Beacons put together a four-run rally to seize a 5-2 advantage, led by a bases-clearing triple from Danny Brown. Brookwell followed that with an RBI single to score Brown as senior Jared Tramantano (Corona, Calif.) came on in relief of Hannan.
- MIT put together a five-run seventh inning, with Johnston getting things started with a two-RBI double in the gap to score first-year Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) and sophomore Cory O'Shea (Glen Allen, Va.) and make it a 5-4 game. Johnston tied the game on a grounder to second that resulted in two errors as he came around from second to make it 5-5.
- Senior Thomas Allison (Kingwood, Texas) gave MIT the lead as he stole third and scored on a throwing error that went into left field, followed by a Trey Roberts (Cedar Park, Texas) run on a passed ball to make the score 7-5 through seven innings.
- The Engineers added two more runs in the ninth as Roberts and first-year Erik Anderson (Palos Verdes, Calif.) posted RBI singles for the 9-5 final.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Johnston finished the game 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, along with two hits by Anderson in his collegiate debut. The Beacons had four players with multiple hits, including Brown in the leadoff spot as he had a team-high three runs batted in.
- Tramantano was excellent in 3.1 innings of two-hit relief as he earned the win to move to 1-0. Dylan Fashempour went 6.2 innings in the start for UMB with six hits allowed, seven runs and 10 strikeouts.
UP NEXT:
- MIT is back in action on Saturday, March 7th as the Engineers travel to Endicott College for a non-conference game beginning at 1 p.m.
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