BEVERLY, Mass. – The MIT baseball team drew a pair of bases loaded walks in the top of the 10th inning to defeat Endicott, 8-6, on Thursday evening in non-conference action at North Field.
John Drago (Peoria, Ariz.) worked a six-pitch walk to give the Engineers a 7-6 advantage, while Matt Johnston (Portola Valley, Calif.) pushed across the game's final run by watching four straight pitches miss the plate to help the visitors secure the victory.
Garrett Greenwood (Edmond, Okla.) earned the win in the bottom half of the 10th on back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout to short. Greenwood, who blew his first save chance of the season in the ninth, finished the contest with two innings pitched, two hits, two runs (both earned), a pair of walks, and three strikeouts.
Alexander Mandrus (Acton, Mass.) took the loss (0-2) on two innings, three hits, two runs (both earned), two free passes, and a strikeout.
Down two runs in the ninth, Endicott forced extra innings on a double play ball (4-6-3) that allowed Matt Bald (De Pere, Wisc.) to score from third with the bases loaded and a two-out, two-strike RBI single into center off the bat of Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott trailed by as many as four runs through 3 1/2 innings of play before the Gulls chipped away on RBI singles from Michael DeDonato (Chelmsford, Mass.) in the fourth and eighth, and a run-producing triple and an RBI groundout by Nick Berno (St. Albans, Vt.) and Michael Casciano (Somers, Conn.) in the fifth inning, respectively.
- Will Bryant (Cumberland, Maine) tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings out of the pen (two walks, two strikeouts) for his second consecutive scoreless relief appearance.
- DeDonato has reached base safely in seven straight games, and also has a team-leading five multi-RBI games this year after going 3-for-5 (all singles) alongside his two RBI.
- Today's game was the first extra innings contest for both teams in 2017.
FOR THE FOES
- Austin Filiere (Chandler, Ariz.) drew a single-game program record five walks in today's win, but somehow did not score a single run (0-1, 1 RBI, 5 BB).
- Kevin Cuneo (Beverly, Mass.) went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and one walk.
- Greenwood also was 2-for-6 at the plate with two runs scored and one RBI.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (7-6) hosts Curry this Saturday, April 1 in conference doubleheader action at 12 and 2:30 PM, respectively (weather permitting). MIT (7-3) welcomes No. 23 Southern Maine to its campus tomorrow at 11 AM. For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.