NEWPORT, R.I. -- The fourth-seeded MIT baseball team dropped a 13-6 decision to top-seeded and nationally rankedNo. 4 Salve Regina University in the winner's bracket of the 2026 NEWMAC Baseball Championship on Friday afternoon at Reynolds Field.
MIT will now face second-seeded Wheaton College in an elimination game on Saturday morning at 9:30 AM at Bill Beck Field on the campus of the University of Rhode Island. Wheaton lost to third-seeded Babson, 3-2, on Friday.
THE BASICS:
- Score: No. 4 Salve Regina 13, MIT 6
- Records: MIT (14-20 overall, 10-6 NEWMAC); Salve Regina (35-4 overall, 14-2 NEWMAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Salve starter Luis Ortiz held MIT without a hit for the game's first four innings as the Seahawks built a 5-0 lead, scoring a run in both the first and second innings before posting three runs in the bottom of the third.
- The MIT lineup found a spark in the top of the fifth inning, scoring four runs on three hits and a pair of Salve errors. John Dwyer opened the inning with a single as the first three MIT batters reached base. Dwyer and James Dempsey scored the first two Engineer runs on Salve errors, while Owen Malone and John Spivey each added RBI singles.
- Salve pulled a run back on a Shane Williams RBI single in the bottom of the fifth before moving ahead 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth when Elliot Hamilton drove in a run and another scored on an MIT error.
- Maximo Del Pino reached first on a throwing error to lead off the seventh inning, ending the day for Ortiz. Malone walked and Del Pino took third on a wild pitch but with runners on the corners and no outs, the game was halted by a 41-minute rain delay. MIT got both runners in after the delay, scoring on an RBI ground out from Jack Finnegan and an RBI single from Dalton Chi, but the rally would stop at two runs as MIT continued to trail, 8-6.
- The two-run deficit was as close as MIT would come for the remainder of the contest. Salve scored a run in the bottom of the seventh before adding four more in the bottom of the eighth to grow the lead to 13-6.
- The Engineers went 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth against Salve reliever Ethan Santerre, as Santerre struck out Del Pino and Malone before getting Finnegan to ground out to end the ballgame.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Salve scored 13 runs on 15 hits while limiting MIT to just four hits in the contest.
- Malone reached base three times to lead MIT, recording a pair of walks in addition to his RBI single in the fifth. He also scored a team-high two runs.
- Thomas Grisamore made his first career postseason start for MIT, pitching 2.0 innings and giving up three runs, two earned.
UP NEXT:
- MIT will play Wheaton at URI and Babson will play at Salve at 9:30 AM on Saturday.
- The winner of the MIT/Wheaton game will advance to play the loser of the Salve/Babson game on Saturday at 1:00 PM at URI.
- Important Ticket Information for Saturday: Each fan only needs to purchase one ticket for the day and allows access to all games. Spectators from the Salve Regina Game Site (Game 6) who are advancing to Game 7 can present their ticket for entry at URI (no second purchase is necessary).
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