CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy hooked up in an old fashioned pitchers dual this afternoon in the opening game of a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference baseball series. MIT junior Aric Dama (Winfield, Ill.) and Coast Guard junior Derek Petty (Parker, Col.) dueled into the eighth inning when the Engineers scratched across a run to take a 2-1 victory.

Dama allowed a leadoff infield hit to senior Eddie Kalankiewicz (San Diego, Calif.) to start the game, but came back to strike out the next two hitters before picking off Kalankiewicz as he attempted to steal second. From there Dama was nearly unhittable through the first six innings, allowing just a two-out single in the third.

Petty was nearly as good, allowing just three singles through his first five innings. The Bear's defense took care of the three base runners that MIT got on base as the Engineers lined into a pair of double plays and had another runner thrown out attempting a steal of second.

In the bottom of the sixth MIT (9-7, 2-5 NEWMAC) broke through with the first run of the game. With one down sophomore Sean Karson (Winter Park, Fla.) drew the first walk of the day off Petty. After Petty came back to strike out the next hitter, freshman Reid Bishop (Cypress, Texas) stroked a double to the fence in center, scoring Karson.

Coast Guard (8-12, 2-5 NEWMAC) came right back in the top of the seventh to tie it. Junior Joe Petry (Worcester, Mass.) led off with a single. Dama got the next two hitters on ground outs, with Petry moving to second on the first out of the inning. Junior Ed Sella (Silver Spring, Md.) then came up with the big two-out hit, tripling to right center to tie the game.

Karson led off the eighth for MIT and legged out an infield hit to third. He then moved up to second on sacrifice bunt from sophomore Jon Rea (Palo Alto, Calif.), and then to third on a ground out to second. Petty then threw a high pitch that was just out of the reach of his catcher, allowing Karson to scamper home with what proved to be the winning run.

Dama retired the side in order in the eighth and got the first two in the ninth before giving up a single to junior Eddie Babkiewich (Golden, Colo.). Junior Henry Zhu (Overland Park, Kan.) then came out of the bullpen to nail down the game for Dame, striking out the final hitter to record his second save of the season. Dama allowed just five hits in his eight and two-third innings, striking out eight without walking a batter to pick up the win. Petty finished with six hits and two runs allowed in his eight innings, striking out one and walking two.

Sophomore Creed Mangrum (Sandy, Utah) was the only player in the game with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to seven games for MIT.

With a good chance of rain tomorrow, the doubleheader originally scheduled for tomorrow at Coast Guard has been moved back to Sunday at Noon.