NEW LONDON, Conn. — First year Connor Cilento (Point Pleasant, N.J.) scored on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the tenth inning as the second seeded United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) defeated the third seeded MIT baseball team, 5-4, on the second day of the 2025 NEWMAC Baseball Championship Tournament on Thursday at Nitchman Field.
MIT graduate student Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) finished the game 2-for-5 to tie Garrett Greenwood's ('18) program record for career hits (227). MIT will now play Wheaton in an elimination game on Saturday at 9:30 AM.
THE BASICS:
- Score: Coast Guard 5, MIT 4
- Records: Coast Guard (26-12 Overall) MIT (17-19 Overall)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Schoenfeld picked up hit number 226 with a double to lead off the first inning, scoring on a wild pitch later in the inning to give MIT a 1-0 lead.
- MIT continued to lead 1-0 until the Engineers doubled their lead in the top of third when rookie John Spivey (Saint Louis, Mo.) hit a solo home run to left with one out in the inning.
- Coast Guard rallied all the way back in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs on four hits, with the big hit coming in the form of a two RBI single from junior Drew Basque (Kealakekua, Hawaii).
- Schoenfeld tied the program record for hits with an infield single in the bottom of the fifth inning.
- With the score knotted at 2-2, the game moved into the seventh inning before MIT took the lead again. Catcher John Dwyer (Northport, N.Y.) opened the inning with a single before moving to third on a sacrifice and an infield groundout. With two away, Spivey drove in Dwyer to put MIT up 3-2.
- Coast Guard wrestled the lead back in the bottom of the seventh as Nathan Stafford (Jupiter, Fla.) followed Carson Cho's (Haymarket, Va.) leadoff triple with a two-run home run of the left field to make the score 4-3.
- Trailing for the first time on the day, MIT responded in the top of the eighth with Dwyer once again coming up big. Dwyer hit s two-out double to center to score Reed Tubbs () from first after MIT's senior shortstop reached base with a walk to open the inning.
- MIT threatened in the top half of the seventh inning, as back to back hit batters put two runners on, but the Engineers could not find the go ahead run as the game moved to bottom half of the inning. Cilento singled with one out in the inning and made his was to third thanks to another single from Jack Steel (Medford Lakes, N.J.) that put the runners on the corners. Cilento then scored on a wild pitch to end the game, 5-4.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- MIT starter Matthew Spenner (Darien, Conn.) went 4.0 innings, giving up six hits and two runs and striking out three.
- Phillip Hood (Grapevine, Texas) took the loss for MIT giving up one run across 2.1 innings.
- Jackson Dorsey (Newark, Del.) was the winning pitcher, going the final 3.0 innings while giving up one run and striking out three.
- Dwyer had a game-high three hits to lead MIT, he also scored a run.
UP NEXT:
- The winner of the MIT vs. Wheaton game will play the loser of Salve Regina vs. Coast Guard at 3:30 PM on Saturday.
- Tickets for the NEWMAC Baseball Championship Tournament can be purchased by visiting newmacsports.com.
STAY CONNECTED:
