PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The number five seed Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball team fell in the bottom of the ninth to third-seeded Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 7-5, this morning in the third round of the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship Tournament at Attanasio Family Field at Murray Stadium on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I.
The Lyons finish their season with a 22-19 record, while the Engineers improve to 18-19. MIT advances to play the loser of the 12:00 p.m. contest between top-seeded No. 10 Salve Regina University and number two seed United States Coast Guard Academy later today at 3:00 p.m. in Newport, R.I.
The Wheaton loss snaps a string of four straight NEWMAC Championship Game appearances for the Lyons.
The Engineers were held without a run through the first five innings of play, but chipped away, before scoring three times in the ninth to erase a one-run deficit and come away with a two-run victory. Wheaton opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth and added two more in the fifth to establish a 4-0 margin. MIT got on the board with a run in the sixth, before the Lyons scored a run in the top of the seventh to maintain their four-run advantage at 5-1. The Engineers answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame and tacked on another run in the eighth to make it a one-run game at 5-4 after eight innings of play.
Senior designated hitter Kevin Matos (Lawrence, Mass.) led Wheaton at the plate, closing out his career with a 4-5 effort that included a double, two runs scored and a run batted in. Matos knocked in 51 runs for the ninth-highest count in a season for the Lyons and tied his 2023 total of 13 home runs for third in Wheaton annals. He finishes his tenure as one of the greatest sluggers in program history with 148 RBI to place seventh on the Lyons' career list, while standing second with 31 home runs. Sophomore third baseman Casey Wensley (Raynham, Mass.) reached base in all five plate appearances for Wheaton, going 3-3 with a pair of walks to go with an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Senior first baseman Timmy Wagner (Hingham, Mass.) was 2-5 with a double and a run scored and closed out the year with 63 RBI for the third-most in program history for a single season. Senior left-handed reliever Josh Fischer (Hopkinton, Mass.) was charged with the loss to drop to 0-1 after giving up four runs on five hits in one and two-thirds innings of work. Sophomore starting pitcher Aidan Cardoza (Dartmouth, Mass.) allowed three runs on five hits and two walks to go with five strikeouts in six-plus innings.
All nine batters in MIT's starting nine either had a hit or an RBI during the day, including the first eight hitters all registering a base hit. Graduate student left fielder C.J. McCarthy's (Pawling, N.Y.) only hit of the day proved to be the most important, a two-run homer to give the Engineers the victory. Graduate student right fielder Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) was 3-5 with a double, a run batted in and a run scored from the top of the lineup and also became the program's all-time hit leader with a single in the top of the first. He now has 229 career knocks. Junior second baseman Zev Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) was 1-4 with a solo homer. Senior right-handed pitcher Brian Rapanan (Gurnee, Ill.) hurled the final five innings in relief to earn the win and improve to 5-1 for MIT after yielding three runs on nine hits and two walks in addition to a pair of strikeouts.
The Engineers entered the bottom of the ninth down by a run and scored three times to leave with the victory. Graduate student first baseman Tyler Godfrey (Rowley, Mass.) opened the frame by dumping a single into left field, before moving into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. Schoenfeld singled to center field to plate Godfrey with the tying run at 5-5. Schoenfeld was caught stealing on a pick-off attempt to put the Lyons just an out away from extra innings. Spivey was hit with a pitch on a 2-2 count, before McCarthy blasted his sixth homer of the year over the left field fence to extend MIT's campaign.
Wheaton got on the board with a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. Wagner cracked a double to right field, before Matos laid a bunt single down the third base line to put runners on the corners. Sophomore left fielder Shawn Cali (East Taunton, Mass.) laced a single up the middle to bring Wagner home with the first run of the day. Junior shortstop Ray Toth (Granby, Mass.) drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Junior catcher Nick Giangregorio (Belmont, Mass.) hit a sacrifice fly to left and Matos scampered home with the Lyons' second run. Engineers' junior starting pitcher Cole Foster (Austin, Texas) retired the next two batters to limit the damage to two runs.
Wheaton added two more runs in the fifth to increase its advantage to 4-0. It took two batters to bump the Lyons' lead with sophomore center fielder Robbie Lamond (North Kingstown, R.I.) ripping a lead-off single to left to set up an RBI double to the left-center gap off the bat of Wensley to make it 3-0. Wensley advanced to third on a ground out and scored ahead of a Matos RBI single to right to give the Lyons a four-run margin.
MIT cracked the scoring column with a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to three. Schoenfeld smacked a double to right center for just the second hit of the ballgame and the first since his own lead-off single in the first. He came around to score ahead of Spivey's single to center to make it 4-1.
Wheaton responded with a run in the top half of the seventh to restore its four-run cushion. Matos doubled to left center, before Cali reached on a bunt single down the third base line. Toth flied out to center field to knock in Matos with the Lyons' fifth and final run of the game.
The Engineers continued to chip away with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to pull within 5-3. The first three batters all collected hits in the inning for MIT. Senior shortstop Reed Tubbs (Pflugerville, Texas) and senior designated hitter Malachi Soqui (Castaic, Calif.) collected back-to-back singles to knock out Wheaton's starting pitcher, before sophomore catcher John Dwyer (Northport, N.Y.) singled to left to drive in Tubbs from second with the second Engineer run. Godfrey reached on an infield error to load the bases with no outs and junior third baseman Owen Malone (Portsmouth, R.I.) followed with a deep fly ball to right that landed in the Lyons' right fielder's glove for an out just in front of the fence. Soqui scored on the sacrifice fly to make it a two-run game, before Wheaton escaped the jam without further trouble.
The Engineers tacked on another run in the eighth on Moore's one-out solo round-tripper over the center field fence.
