SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Dalton Chi hit a three-run home run in the second inning and a grand slam in the fifth inning to power the No. 4-seeded MIT baseball team to a 12-11 victory over No. 5-seeded Springfield College in the first round of the 2026 NEWMAC Baseball Championship on Tuesday at Archie Allen Field.
With the victory, MIT will advance to play at top-seeded Salve Regina on Friday at 3:00 PM.
THE BASICS:
- Score: No. 4 MIT 12, No. 5 Springfield 11
- Records: MIT (14-19 overall, 10-6 NEWMAC); Springfield (23-16 overall, 9-7 NEWMAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Chi and Zev Moore helped MIT score five runs in the opening innings, as a back-and-forth start saw the Engineers take a 5-4 lead after just two innings of play. Moore homered in the bottom of the first, but Springfield jumped to a 4-1 lead with four runs in the top of second.
- With MIT trailing in the second inning, Chi took the third pitch he saw over the wall with Owen Malone and John Spivey on base to tie the contest at 4-4. Zev Moore followed Chi with a single and John Dwyer doubled before Moore scored on an odd sacrifice fly and foul out to right saw Dwyer cut down at home plate. MIT carried the 5-4 lead into the fifth inning.
- Springfield tied the game 5-5 on the strength of a Jack Dunaisky RBI single in the top of the fifth inning. MIT responded with a six-run bottom of the fifth to move ahead 11-5. Del Pino plated a run with a sacrifice fly and Jack Finnegan drove in a run with an RBI single but the big blast in the fifth came off the bat of Chi, as the first year hit his first career grand slam to give MIT a six-run lead.
- Springfield got two runs back in the top of the sixth inning, scoring on a pair of bases loaded walks to make the score 11-7.
- The contest would move to the eighth inning before MIT added some insurance. Chi opened the inning with a leadoff triple and scored on a sacrifice fly from Zev Moore to make the score 12-7. MIT's final run would prove to be critical as the game moved to the ninth inning.
- Chase Rubin got the first batter to fly out to left to open the ninth, but six straight Springfield batters reached base to follow as the Pride took advantage of three hits and three MIT errors to close the gap to one run. The final Springfield run scored on an RBI single by Ryan Duffy, as he reached base while scoring Adam Crocker and moving Kyle Mitchell to third. However, with one out and the tying run on third base, Rubin got Tyler Casey to ground into a game-ending double play.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Rubin and starter Matthew Spenner split the pitching duties to lead MIT to the win. Spenner covered the first 4.2 innings, striking out five and walking five while giving up five runs and five hits over 90 pitches. Rubin got the win, pitching the final 4.1 innings.
- Chi finished the day 3-for-5 with a career-high seven RBIs and three runs scored. He was one of five Engineers with multiple hits, along with Zev Moore, James Dempsey, Owen Malone and Finnegan. Dempsey and Chi both hit triples in the contest.
- Chi leads MIT with seven home runs and a .615 slugging percentage on the season. His seven RBIs were the most for an MIT first year since teammate John Spivey recorded eight RBIs in a game last season.
UP NEXT:
- First pitch between MIT and Salve Regina is scheduled for 3:00 PM on Friday.
- The teams will meet in the postseason for the second straight year. Salve topped the Engineers in last year's NEWMAC Championship to win the title.
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