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Box Score 2 HOBOKEN, N.J. – In the first doubleheader of the season for the MIT baseball team, the Engineers saw a late lead slip away in game one before falling behind early in game two as the Stevens Institute of Technology came up with a 6-5, 6-2 sweep of the Engineers.
Game one was decided in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the eighth inning. With MIT (0-3) ahead 5-3, senior Michael Wymer (Flower Mound, Texas) came on to pitch, but a walk and a one-out error put two runners on for the Stevens (6-5). A fielder's choice play made it two away, but the Ducks cashed in when Zeph Walters drove a pitch out of the park, his second home run of the contest, for what proved to be the winning runs. Jayson Yano then closed out a complete game win by setting down MIT in order in the top of the ninth, allowing seven hits, two earned runs and striking out nine to pick up the victory.
MIT broke on top early, getting a solo home run to lead off the third by senior Alec Echevarria (Chula Vista, Calif.) and then adding two more runs in the inning on a Stevens error. A solo home run in the bottom of the third and a two run shot by Walters in the fourth tied it up, but the Engineers came back with another unearned run in the fifth and then added an RBI single by sophomore Garrett Greenwood (Edmond, Okla.) that plated freshman Jared Schwait (Boca Raton, Fla.) to go up 5-3.
In game two Stevens picked up a run in each of the first two innings, getting an RBI double in the first from Nick Sieber and a solo home run in the second from P.J. Wiegartner. MIT made it a one-run game in the third when sophomore Max Lancaster (Attleboro, Mass.) led off with a double, moved to third on a ground out and then scored on an infield single by Schwait.
It remained a one-run contest until the sixth when the Ducks broke through for four runs. With a runner on third and one down, Stevens strung together three straight doubles by Sieber, Nolan Bennett and Wiegartner to plate three. The Ducks later added a fourth run in the frame on a fielder's choice to take a 6-1 lead.
That was all that starter Robert Robbins needed as he tossed the second complete game of the day for the Ducks, giving up six hits, including a solo home run to senior Kendall Helbert (St. Louis, Mo.) in the ninth, and striking out 13 to improve to 2-0. Junior David Hesslink (San Diego, Calif.) started and took the loss for MIT, giving up five earned runs in 5.1 innings on six hits. Senior Eric Tu (San Ramon, Calif.) and freshman Jack Murphy (Pleasanton, Calif.) each tossed a scoreless inning in relief for the Engineers.
In game one Greenwood had three hits in four trips for MIT, while Walters accounted for five RBI with his two home runs for Stevens. In the nightcap Lancaster was 2-for-4 for the Engineers, with Sieber and Wiegartner each getting a pair of hits and driving in two for the Ducks.
MIT will play next on March 18 when the Engineers will begin their spring break trip with a game against Castleton State College in a contest that will be played at War Memorial Stadium in Newport News, Virginia.
