THE BASICS:
 
- Records: MIT (0-2); No. 19 North Carolina Wesleyan (5-3); No. 4 Johns Hopkins (1-1)
 
- Scores: No. 19 North Carolina Wesleyan 7, MIT 0; No. 4 Johns Hopkins 12, MIT 2
 
- Location: Baltimore, Md. (Babb Field at Stromberg Stadium)
 
- The Lead: In action for the first time in 719 days, the MIT baseball team dropped a pair of non-conference games to No. 19 North Carolina Wesleyan and No. 4 Johns Hopkins on Saturday. The Engineers fell to the Bishops by a 7-0 final, followed by a 12-2 setback to the Blue Jays.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED VS. NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN:
 
- In the top of the first, NC Wesleyan's Davie Morgan led off with a double to left, was sacrificed to third and came home on a groundout to second for the 1-0 edge. The Bishops struck for four runs in the bottom of the third as Morgan led off with a home run, followed by a three-run shot later in the inning by Tyson Bass, for the 5-0 margin.
 
- NC Wesleyan added single runs in the fourth and eighth innings in the 7-0 final. The Engineers had runner on base in seven of the nine innings, but were unable to push a run across the plate in the season opener.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- Senior Casey Bussone (Danvers, Mass.) took the loss for MIT, going three innings and allowing five runs on five hits with three strikeouts to fall to 0-1. Daniel Thompson picked up the win for the Bishops to move to 1-0 as he lasted six shutout innings, followed by a three-inning save from Payne Stolsworth.
 
- Sophomore Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) led MIT with a 2-for-4 performance in the game from the leadoff spot.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED VS. JOHNS HOPKINS:
 
- The Blue Jays jumped on top early with an unearned run in the first, followed by a single run in the second and another unearned run in the fifth for the 3-0 advantage. After another Hopkins run in the sixth, the Engineers got on the board in the top of the seventh as Schoenfeld scored on an RBI single to right from junior Graham Cartwright (La Jolla, Calif.) to make it a 4-1 game at the time.
 
- The hosts struck for seven runs in the seventh, led by a grand slam by Shawn Steuerer, to extend the lead out to 11-1. Sophomore Phillip Hood (Grapevine, Texas) hit his first career home run for the Engineers with a solo shot to right in the top of the eighth, while JHU answered with a run in the bottom of the frame to account for the 12-2 final.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 
- MIT was led offensively by junior Kyle Sonandres (Torrance, Calif.), senior Nick Aiello (Freehold, N.J.) and Cartwright with two hits each, including a double by Cartwright that narrowly missed going over the right field fence in the top of the fifth.
 
- Senior Adam Katz (Mt. Kisco, N.Y.) takes the loss for the Engineers to fall to 0-1 on the season as he allowed six hits and one earned run over four innings with three strikeouts. Overall, the MIT pitching staff allowed just four earned runs over the game.
 
UP NEXT:
 
- MIT returns to action on Sunday, February 27th as the Engineers take on No. 2 ranked SUNY Cortland for an 11 a.m. start at Babb Field at Stromberg Stadium.
 
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