NEW LONDON, Conn. — Junior Zev Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and first year John Spivey (Saint Louis, Mo.) hit his first collegiate home run, but the MIT baseball team dropped its season opener to Mitchell College, 5-3, in non-conference play on Saturday at Alumni Field.
THE BASICS:
- Score: Mitchell 5, MIT 3
- Records: Mitchell (2-2 Overall), MIT (0-1 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Moore gave MIT an early lead, sending a single through the left side to score grad student CJ McCarthy (Pawling, N.Y.) from second.
- The Engineers carried the 1-0 lead into the fourth behind three shutout innings from starter Matthew Spenner (Darien, Conn.). The MIT junior struck out four in his first start of the season.
- Mitchell countered in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring three runs on four hits to take a 3-1 lead. Junior Kenneth Miller Jr. (New London, Conn.) and sophomore Michael Fiocelli (North Providence, R.I.) opened the inning with back-to-back singles off MIT reliever Chase Rubin (Arlington, Va.). First year Cole Terni (Montville, Conn.) walked before senior Michael Gajda (New Britain, Conn.) singled to centerfield to drive home Miller.
- Junior Thai-ler Sestokas (Danbury, Conn.) put Mitchell ahead with an RBI single to center before the final Mitchell run of the inning scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Chase Donahue (Shirley, Mass.).
- With runners on second and third, MIT junior Owen Malone (Portsmouth, R.I.) cut down Gajda at home to limit the damage. Rubin then struck out Vartanian to end the inning.
- MIT trimmed the deficit to one run in the top of the fifth, scoring when Spivey reached first on a two-out error that allowed grad student Tyler Godfrey (Rowley, Mass.) to score from third.
- Mitchell got the run back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring when Fiocelli doubled to center to score junior Nicholas Bracale (East Haven, Conn.), who had opened the inning with a lead off single before advancing to third on a ground out and a wild pitch.
- Mitchell added another run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh, stretching the lead to 5-2, as Bracale scored for the second time on the day after reaching base with a one-out single to left field off of MIT reliever Jimmy Moore (Los Gatos, Calif.).
- Spivey homered to right center to lead off the top of the eighth inning but the Engineers were unable to add to the rally.
- Trailing by two in the top of the ninth, Jadon Canelli (Northford, Conn.) closed out the game for the Mariners with a 1-2-3 inning. Canelli went four innings in relief, striking out five and giving up just one earned run to earn his first save of the season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Mitchell senior starter Eddie Kaftan (Old Lyme, Conn. ) went five innings, recording six strikeouts while giving up two runs, one earned, to earn his first victory of the season (1-1).
- Bracale was 2-for-4 with two runs scored for Mitchell.
- Rubin was charged with the loss (0-1) after giving up six hits and four runs, three earned, over three innings. Jimmy Moore and Phillip Hood (Grapevine, Texas) each pitched an inning in relief for MIT. Hood gave up one hit and struck out three batters in one inning of work.
- McCarthy was 2-for-5 with two hits and a run scored for MIT.
- MIT grad student Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) doubled to right center with one-out in the top of the sixth inning, his first double of the season after finishing with eight doubles in 2024.
UP NEXT:
- MIT's contest scheduled for Sunday against Amherst in Hartford, Conn. has been postponed. The game will be rescheduled for a later date and played at MIT. The Engineers will play next on Tuesday, March 4 in a 3:00 PM game at UMass Boston.
- Mitchell was scheduled to host Brandeis on Sunday but that game has also been postponed. The Mariners will play Eastern Conn. St. on Tuesday at 3:00 PM.
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