Springfield, Mass. – April 6, 2012 – The Springfield College baseball team took advantage of seven MIT errors to grind out a gritty 7-6 win on Berry-Allen Field in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Friday afternoon.

With the win, Springfield improves to 11-9, but more importantly, 5-4 in league play. The loss drops MIT to 10-11, 2-8.

For Springfield, Steve Starr went 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBI in the win. Matt Milano added two hits and two RBI, while Jon Medici picked up the win in relief, throwing 2/3 of an inning of perfect ball. Starter Mike McGowan lasted 5.2 inning, giving up six runs, three earned, off seven hits. Tyer Benoit was very strong out of the pen, giving up just two hits in 2.2 innings work.

The Engineers where hampered by seven errors, including one in the ninth inning that proved to cost the game. Ricardo Perez, Creed Mangrum, and Torre Swanson each registered two hits each in the loss. Starter Aric Dama gave up six runs, three earned, off nine hits while striking out two and walking three. Henry Zhu took the loss in three innings of work, in which he gave up one unearned run while striking out two.

Mike CorlettaÂ's flair single to right field started things off in the first. Following a failed pickoff attempt by Dama, Corletta advanced two bases to third. A hard shot to short by Sean Smith was thrown away trying to get Corletta at home as MITÂ's second error of the frame gave the Pride a 1-0 advantage.

In the second, Springfield tacked on another run to increase as Starr cracked a two-out single to right to drive in Shane OÂ'Leary from second base.

The Engineers took advantage of a Springfield error in the third to make it a 2-1 contest. After Sean Karson earned a one-out walk, he later moved into scoring position on a groundout to third. With two outs on the board, SwansonÂ's grounder to short was misplayed, allowing Karson to come all the way around to score MITÂ's first run.

Mangrum notched a one-out single and found himself on third after Karl QuistÂ's throw on the to second on the attempted stolen base sailed into left field. Perez produced a hard RBI single up the middle to even the game at two runs apiece.

MIT took its first lead of the game in the fifth by scoring a pair of runs. Karson led off the frame with a single, then moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch. Swanson, who reached after being hit by a pitch, later scored on another Pride miscue in the field.

Springfield answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth to even things once again. Both Smith and Quist singled and moved to second and third on a throwing error by A.J. Hansborough on a failed pick off. Milano made the Engineers pay by crushing a line-drive single up the middle for a pair of RBI.

The teams continued to score in the sixth as each team scored twice. Perez stole home and Jon Rea roped an RBI single down the right field line for MIT, while Starr produced a two-RBI single to left center for the Pride.

After Medici came in to clean things up in the ninth by getting a pair of ground outs to second, Springfield rallied in the ninth for the win. With one out, Frank Calabrese walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, before Quist was intentionally walked. In Milano’s ensuing at back, he hit a hard come-backer at the pitcher, who sailed a throw into center field while attempting to get Quist for the force out at second, allowing Calabrese to scamper home for the winning run.

Springfield will continue its three-game set with MIT on Saturday when it travels to Cambridge for a doubleheader beginning at noon.