THE BASICS:
- Records: MIT (3-5); Southern Maine (2-9)
- Scores: MIT 8, Southern Maine 4
- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Fran O'Brien Field)
- The Lead: In the 2023 MIT baseball home opener, the Engineers earned an 8-4 victory over the University of Southern Maine on Wednesday afternoon at Fran O'Brien Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Huskies struck for a single run in the top of the first as Anthony Pool drew a two-out walk and scored on the next batter when Kyle Douin tripled into the right field corner for the 1-0 lead.
- MIT answered in the bottom of the second on back-to-back RBI extra-base hits from first-year Eitan Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) and junior Kennan Gumbs (New York, N.Y.) to take the 2-1 lead. The Engineers added to the lead with two more runs in the third when senior Kyle Sonandres (Torrance, Calif.) doubled to right to lead off before senior Graham Cartwright (La Jolla, Calif.) launched a deep two-run homer to left. Cartwright homered for the second straight at-bat with a solo homer to center in the fifth to stake MIT to a 5-1 advantage heading to the sixth.
- Junior Karl Meyer (Indianapolis, Ind.) was excellent for the Engineers as he allowed just three runners to get into scoring position over 5.1 innings before giving way to first-year Matthew Spenner (Darien, Conn.) in relief with one out in the top of the sixth.
- Jonathan Wilson greeted Spenner with a two-run homer to left to make it a one-run game at 5-4 before he settled in and did not allow another baserunner for the remainder of the game.
- The Engineers put up a two-run sixth inning on RBI singles by first-year Zev Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) and Sonandres, along with the final run in the seventh behind an RBI single by junior Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) to account for the 8-4 final margin.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Cartwright and Gumbs led the MIT offense with three hits each as the Engineers finished the game with a total of six extra-base hits. Cartwright also scored three times and drove in three runs. For Southern Maine, Douin and Wilson each had a pair of runs and scored twice apiece.
- On the mound, Meyer improved to 1-0 on the season as he went 5.1 innings and scattered four hits with three runs and seven strikeouts. Spenner earned his first save of the season as he went 3.2 innings and allowed just one hit with no walks and five strikeouts.
- Kyle Skolfield lasted just 2.1 innings for Southern Maine, allowing four hits and four earned runs as he fell to 0-2 overall for the year.
UP NEXT:
- MIT is back in action Friday, March 24th as the Engineers host Bates College for a 3 p.m. start at Fran O'Brien Field.
STAY CONNECTED:
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