MEDFORD, Mass. — Behind a shutout effort from pitchers Mason Estrada (Covington, La.) and Brian Rapanan (Gurnee, Ill.), the third-seeded MIT baseball team earned a dominant 11-0 win over sixth-seeded Babson College on the opening day of the 2025 NEWMAC Baseball Championship Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Sol Gittleman Park at Tufts University.
Estrada and Rapanan combined to limit Babson to six hits, as the Engineers pounded out 14 hits in the 11-0 victory. With the victory, MIT advances to play second-seeded Coast Guard tomorrow at 3:30 PM in New London, Conn.
THE BASICS:
- Score: MIT 11, Babson 0
- Records: MIT (17-18 Overall), Babson (23-13 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Estrada worked his way out of trouble in the first inning, as Babson had runners on second and third before the MIT starter punched out Zander Teator (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) to end the inning.
- Grad student Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) reached on an error to lead off the first but the next three MIT batters went in order.
- Babson put two more base runners on in the second but Estrada got Jack Julian (Manchester, Mass.) to ground into an inning-ending double play to push the inning to the bottom half. MIT got to work in the home half of the second, scoring on a John Dwyer (Northport, N.Y.) single and sacrifice bunt RBI off the bat of Owen Malone (Portsmouth, R.I.) to take a 2-0 lead.
- Estrada worked around a lead off walk in the top of the third, getting three straight outs after allowing the early base runner.
- MIT added four more runs in bottom of half of the third, scoring four runs on five hits and one Babson error to stretch their advantage to 6-0. Malachi Soqui (Castaic, Calif.), Dwyer and Schoenfeld each delivered RBI singles in the inning as MIT chased Babson starter Jason Finkelstein (Walpole, Mass.) after just 2.2 innings.
- With a 6-0 lead to his credit, Estrada sat down Babson in order in top of the fourth. He allowed a walk and a double in the top of the fifth but struck out the final two batters in the inning to keep the 6-0 lead intact.
- MIT added three runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach. CJ McCarthy (Pawling, N.Y.), Zev Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) and Reed Tubbs (Pflugerville, Texas) each drove in runs in the inning. Moore's RBI came on a double that was blistered to right center.
- Estrada got the first two outs in the sixth before allowing a single to Walter Sadowsky (Morristown, N.J.). That ended the day for the MIT starter after 5.2 innings and 103 pitches. Rapanan entered and had to work himself out of trouble after hitting a batter and giving up a bunt single, but the MIT senior struck out Julian to end the threat.
- MIT scored in the bottom of the sixth, on an RBI double from Schoenfeld, and the bottom of the seventh, on an RBI single from Soqui, to stretch the lead to 11-0.
- Rapanan worked around base runners in the seventh and eighth before getting into a jam in the ninth but a double play ball of the bat off Justin Guest (West Windsor, N.J.) and a ground out back to the mound sealed the 11-0 win for MIT.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- The victory was MIT's first NEWMAC postseason win since the 2023 season when MIT went 2-2 in the tournament.
- Schoenfeld finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of walks and a pair of RBIs. He is now two hits from tying the MIT program record for career hits (227).
- Tubbs and Soqui each finished with three hits to lead MIT. Soqui had a pair of RBIs and Tubbs had one as seven different MIT players drove in runs.
- Estrada is no 6-0 on the year. Rapanan earned hist third save of the season, pitching 3.1 innings and striking out two.
UP NEXT:
- MIT will play at Coast Guard tomorrow at 3:30 PM.
- The Engineers split a doubleheader with the Bears during the regular season, winning 10-3 in game one and falling 3-0 in game two.
- Tickets for the NEWMAC Baseball Championship Tournament can be purchased by visiting newmacsports.com.
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