MILTON, Mass. – Sophomore Patrick Dayton (Archer City, Texas) led off the game with a home run to ignite a MIT offense that scored runs in each of the first four innings, enabling the Engineers to pick up a 10-5 baseball win over Curry College. It was the third straight win for MIT, which improved to 8-7 with the non-conference victory. Curry fell to 5-10 with the loss.
After Dayton's blast to start the game, MIT went on to plate two more runs for an early 3-0 lead. After senior Bryan Macomber (Los Altos, Calif.) reached on a fielder's choice play, he moved to second on a failed pick off and then came around to score on a fielding error by the Curry second baseman on sophomore Creed Mangrum's (Sandy, Utah) ground ball. Mangrum would move up to third on a pair of wild pitches before coming in to score on freshman Hayden Cornwell's (Newport Beach, Calif.) ground out.
MIT scored twice more in the second, getting an RBI single off the bat of senior Torre Swanson (Redding, Calif.) and a sac fly from junior James McKinney (Wakefield, R.I.). The Engineers then went on to stretch their lead to 7-1 after scoring single runs in the third and fourth innings on a sac fly from junior Grant Iwamoto (Aiea, Hawaii) and an RBI single from Macomber.
MIT starter, freshman K.J. Parent (Knoxville, Tenn.), was in control during his six innings on the mound. He allowed just one run in the second when Curry senior David Stevens (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and then came around to score on a single by freshman Matt Warren (Wilbraham, Mass.). Parent allowed just two more hits after that, finishing with five hits and just the one run allowed, striking out three on his way to the win.
Curry rallied in the seventh, seeing its first three hitters reach on walks. After one run scored on a wild pitch, Junior Matt Rodriguez (Quincy, Mass.) doubled home a pair of runs to make it 7-4. One out later sophomore Kyle Connors (Stoughton, Mass.) singled in Rodriguez to cut the MIT lead to two.
MIT answered with three more in the top of the eighth to put the game away. An error, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases with one down for Macomber, who singled to center to bring home a pair. Next up was Mangrum, who promptly brought Macomber around with a double to left. The duo combined to go 5-for-9, accounting for five RBIs and three runs. Cornwell, Swanson and freshman Eben Bitonte (Wichita, Kan.) all added a pair of hits for the Engineers.
MIT returns to NEWMAC conference action in its next game as the Engineers play host to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Friday at 3:30 p.m. Curry will play again at home tomorrow when the Colonels host Fitchburg State at 3:30 p.m.