Baseball improves to 12-4 with WPI walk-off win
Holding onto a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, starter Chrisopher L. Vaughan ’12 found himself in a bases-loaded jam, pitching on a frigid Tuesday afternoon against Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This is the type of situation when dugout chatter tends to pick up. Dugout chatter is a rhythmic composition of the digits of the player’s numbers (2 and 8, in the case of Vaughan), a disyllabic nickname (Vaughanie), and exhortations like “here we go” or “battle.” The presence and intensity of the chatter matters far more than the content. As such, heads turn when someone from the dugout artfully weaves in the suggestion that Vaughan should actually “have fun” and that, in fact, “baseball is fun.”
The Tech’s sports staff weigh in as Final Four compete for NCAA Championship
From an original field of 68 teams in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, four teams — VCU, Butler, Connecticut, and Kentucky — are left, their hopes for a national title still alive. Both VCU and Butler, seeded eleventh and eighth, respectively, reached the Final Four by way of a string of upsets; Kentucky and Connecticut had close calls of their own, with the Wildcats upsetting Ohio State on their final possession and the Huskies edging Arizona by two points to reach the Final Four.
Men’s Swim takes 4th
The MIT Men’s Swimming team competed at Division III Nationals last weekend. Five swimmers, as well as five relay teams, earned All-American finishes, as the Engineers took fourth overall, the best finish in program history.
Cycling races in Philly
The MIT cycling team traveled to Philadelphia this weekend for the third race in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) road-racing season. The weekend opened with the first team time trial (TTT) of the season. The TTT is generally MIT’s strongest event, as the teams make it a priority to practice together often — and the practice certainly paid off. The women’s A, men’s B, and men’s C teams won the event.
Party like it’s 1875? Red Sox ready for 2011 season
At 1:55 p.m. on Friday, April 8, military jets will streak across the sky to kick-off a baseball season that, to a vast swath of New England, no superlative can adequately describe. If you tune into WEEI 850 AM, you will hear caller after caller proclaim that he or she has truly found the best baseball team in the world. Not only that, you can be part of the excitement on Opening Day at Fenway Park, for just $100 on the secondary ticket market (seat not included)!
Lacrosse gets conference win
Following a shaky start, the MIT Engineers were able to overpower Smith College 9-3 on Saturday to win their first New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) lacrosse game of the season. A little over three minutes into the game, Smith’s Becky Bracken put the Pioneers on the board, giving them a 1-0 lead which stood for ten minutes, until MIT’s Kaitlyn L. Nealon ’14, assisted by Erica W. Little ’11, managed to tie the score.
SPORTS SHORTS
The MIT Women’s Softball team defeated Smith College in both games of a NEWMAC doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. With the 9-1 and 3-1 wins, the Engineers improved their conference record to 3-3.
MIT wins NECVA title
The nationally-ranked No. 10 MIT Men’s Volleyball team wrapped up regular-season play with a hard-fought 41-39, 25-20, 25-17 victory over North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England Division foe Wentworth Institute of Technology on Friday night. The Engineers finished the New England Division standings with a ledger of 15-1 and an overall mark of 28-6 to earn their first NECVA New England title since 2007.
Women’s Tennis sweeps Mills College in California
This past week MIT Women’s Tennis traveled to California for their spring break trip. The Engineers played Mills College on Caltech’s courts because their match against Caltech was canceled due to rain and Caltech’s traveling schedule. The team returned home with an official win of 9-0.
Squash ends strong season
The MIT Squash team recently closed out their season, competing in both the team and individual College Squash Association (CSA) Championships the past two weekends. The team took second place in their bracket, placing 34th overall.
Women’s Tennis posts Colby victory
MIT Women’s Tennis played Colby this past Saturday, winning by an official score of 7-2 (and unofficially, 10-3).
Sports Shorts
The annual Figure Skating Exhibition presented by the MIT Figure Skating club on Saturday night featured members of the MIT club and other skaters from the Boston area in 21 programs. The skaters were varied in both their levels of expertise and their styles.
No. 1 seeds prepare for Indianapolis Final Four
Since the NCAA began sponsoring women’s basketball in 1982, only once have all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four.
Track goes to Nationals
The MIT Men’s and Women’s Track & Field squads traveled to Capital University for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship over the weekend and had a number of impressive results. On the strength of 14 All-America performances, the women’s team brought home a third place finish, while the men placed five athletes on the All-America podium en route to a 28th place standing. This was the third consecutive third-place result at Nationals for coach Halston W. Taylor’s women’s program, as the Engineers were also among the top three at this year’s Cross Country Championship and the Outdoor meet in 2010.
Sports Shorts
The MIT Women’s Tennis team competed in their first match of the spring last Saturday, sweeping New York University 9-0 at home on the Carr Indoor Courts. The match was the first since their loss to Wellesley in the NEWMAC Tournament semifinals in October.
Men’s Volleyball wins MIT Invitational
This past weekend, the nationally-ranked No. 13 MIT Men’s Volleyball team dropped only one set en route to its first MIT Invitational crown since 2007. With a 4-0 outing, the Engineers improved to 23-5 on the season, marking the program’s seventh consecutive 20-win campaign. Patrick J. Vatterott ’13 was selected to the All-Tournament Team while David R. Thomas ’12 was named the Tournament MVP.