Baseball scores four times in first inning of 7-5 victory
MIT fends off WPI to improve to 9-3 in NEWMAC
MIT scored four times in the first inning and then held off WPI down the stretch to take 7-5 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) baseball victory Tuesday afternoon. Hayden K. Cornwell ’15 drove in three runs for the Engineers while Alex Venditti drove in a pair for WPI.
MIT (12-7, 9-3 NEWMAC) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard in the first inning. Starter C.J. Doskocil recorded the first out for WPI (16-12, 7-7 NEWMAC), but then surrendered four straight hits to the Engineers, including run-scoring doubles to Parker A. Tew ’15 and Nathaniel H. Rodman ’16. Cornwell added an RBI single between the doubles and Robert R. Bishop ’15 singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
WPI came back to make it a one-run game in the third when John Caliri led off with a double. An error put runners on the corners for Sean Greene who delivered an RBI base hit. A ground out and a wild pitch brought home two more runs for the Engineers to make it 4-3.
A pair of singles in the bottom of the fourth set up a two-run rally for MIT. Tew grounded out to plate one run before Cornwell came up with a two-out base hit to bring in another and make it 6-3. MIT added another run in the sixth when Cornwell drove in his third run of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly to center.
WPI came right back in the top of the seventh. With one down Nick Comei singled before Vinny D’Ambrosio drew a two out walk. That brought in Jason M. Morrison ’17 out of the bullpen for MIT to face Venditti, who greeted him with a double to right that scored both runners.
From there the MIT bullpen got the job done, with Morrison recording the final out of the seventh and Alan Wang ’16 coming in to pitch the final two innings for the Engineers. WPI threatened in the eighth, getting runners to second and third with two away, but Wang picked up a key strikeout to end the threat and then set the side down in order in the ninth to record the save.
Eric Tu ’16, the second of four MIT pitchers on the day, received his first win of the season with 3.2 innings of one-hit, one-run relief. Wang allowed just one hit in his two innings on the mound, fanning five. Doskocil took the loss for WPI, going five innings and giving up six run on nine hits.
Tew, Cornwell, Rodman and freshman Austin M. Filiere ’18 all had multiple hits for MIT, with Tew leading the way with three. Zach Blanchard went 3-for-4 to lead WPI.