BOSTON, Mass.—MIT scored seven unanswered runs to close the game, to earn a 9-5 win over #11/22 UMass Boston baseball on Thursday afternoon at Monan Park.

THE BASICS

MIT 9, #11/22 UMass Boston 5

(UMass Boston 2-1)
(MIT 1-0)

HOW IT HAPPENED

After UMass Boston took a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, the Engineers responded with a five-run seventh and they tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning.

Junior Danny Brown (Hudson, N.H.) led the Beacons offensively with two hits, a triple and a run scored. Steve Brookwell (Highstown, N.J.) added a pair of RBI singles and Nico Kydes (Stamford, Conn.) chipped in two hits and an RBI.

On the mound, sophomore Dylan Fashempour (Redlands, Calif.) was an extremely tough-luck loser. He allowed six hits and two walks and was charged with seven runs (two earned) over seven innings. The sophomore righty tied his career-high with 10 strikeouts.

MIT senior Matt Johnston led the Engineers offense by going 2-5 for two runs scored, two RBI and a pair of doubles. Freshman Erik Anderson tacked on two hits in four at-bats, along with an RBI and a walk.

Junior ace Casey Bussone took a no-decision, after allowing four hits and one earned run in 4.2 innings. Senior reliever Jared Tramontano earned the win after holding the Beacons to two hits and one walk over 3.1 innings. He also struck out four batters.

MIT took a 2-0 lead after scoring a single run in the top of the first and third innings. Tony Rice scampered home on an error in the first inning and Johnston scored on an infield single from Adam Krause.

After being held in check by Bussone through the first four innings, UMass Boston began to chip away at the deficit in the fifth. Ryan Leung (Brookline, Mass.) reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on a balk and scored on Brookwell's RBI single through the right side.

The Beacons took control of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Kydes led off the inning with a single and moved to third on Curtis Tirone's (Waltham, Mass.) double. With two outs and the bases loaded, Brown ripped a bases-clearing double to right-center field. Brookwell followed with another RBI single to give the Beacons their biggest lead of the season at 5-2.

MIT came right back at the Beacons in the top of the seventh. The first two batters reached on a hit by pitch and a throwing error. After a strikeout, Johnston cut the deficit to 5-4 with a two-run double. With two down and two outs, the Engineers took advantage of another Beacons' error to tie the game. After a pitching change, MIT scored two more runs on an error and a passed ball.

UMass Boston put runners on in the seventh and eighth innings, but couldn't come through against Tramontan. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• The Beacons four pitchers combined for a season-high 15 strikeouts. UMass Boston hasn't struck out 15 or more batters, since they totaled 18 strikeouts on May 13, 2017 in the Little East Conference Championship Game against UMass Dartmouth.
• Freshmen Aidan Blake (Lakeville, Mass.) and Devin Slattery (Ware, Mass.) both made their collegiate debuts in the contest. Blake got the start at shortstop and picked up his first collegiate hit.
• Fashempour tied his career-high for strikeouts (10), that he set on March 19, 2019 against Roger Williams University.
• The Beacons recorded a season-high six errors in the loss.
• With the loss, UMass Boston falls to 13-24 all-time against MIT. The loss snapped the Beacons' five-game winning streak against the Engineers.

WHO'S NEXT

The Beacons will wrap up their season-opening four-game homestand, when they take on Framingham State University on Monday at 3 p.m.