Worcester, Mass. – April 2, 2015 – The Springfield College baseball team suffered a pair of New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference setbacks to MIT on Thursday afternoon at Granger Field. The contests were played at Clark University due to inadequate field conditions.

With the pair of wins, the Engineers improve to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play, while the Pride falls to 1-10 on the year and 0-4 in the NEWMAC. Springfield will next be in action when it travels to Coast Guard on Friday night for an afternoon conference bout.

MIT 6, Springfield 3 -- Game One

Despite a late ninth-inning rally from the Pride, benefitting from a 2-RBI single from Keith Cotnoir (Westhampton, Mass.), the Springfield College baseball program dropped the opening game of a double header to MIT, 6-3, on Thursday evening on Granger Field at Clark University.

Senior pitcher Oliver Collette (Spencer, Mass.) got the nod for the Pride, and pitched 7.1 strong innings, giving up nine hits, five runs and struck out three. Ben Bohlke (Nanuet, N.Y.) came on in relief and pitched 0.2 innings, striking out one.

For the Engineers, David Hesslink (San Diego, Calif.) hurled 8.1 innings, giving up eight hits, three runs and struck out four. Garrett Greenwood (Edmond, Okla.) came on to finish out the game and only gave up one hit.

MIT struck first when Drago and Filiere came around to score on an error committed by a Springfield infielder, before Tew cracked a home run over the left field fence to give the Engineers a 3-0 lead.

Springfield was threatening to score in the top of the fifth inning, with Billy Paskowski (Wappinger Falls, N.Y.) on third and Peter Marsicano (Allentown, N.J.) on first and Shane O'Leary (Kings Park, N.Y.) at the plate. O'Leary crushed a deep fly ball to left, that was caught on the warning track to end the inning.

After Tew crossed the plate on another error from Springfield to give the Engineers a 4-0 cushion, Steve Starr (Lebanon, Conn) singled down the third-base line, and after and errant throw from the pitcher, Paskowski scored from second to make it 4-1, MIT.

With a pair on in the top of the ninth, Cotnoir pinch hit and cracked a single to left, scoring Starr and Brent Poulin (Atascadero, Calif.) from second to cut the Pride's deficit in half. With a runner on first, MIT forced Springfield into a game-ending double play to end Springfield's rally, and complete the 6-3 win.

MIT 13, Springfield 1 -- Game Two

The Engineers scored early and often in the nightcap of the doubleheader, as a game-high six RBI from Austin Filiere (Chandler, Ariz.), including a grand slam home run paced MIT to a 13-1 victory over the Pride.

Nicholas Locascio (Naples, Fla.) earned the win on the mound for the Engineers, as the sophomore hurled 6.0 innings, giving up five hits, one run, while striking out three. Eric Tu (San Roman, Calif.) and Jason Morrison (Frisco, Texas) finished off the game for MIT, as Tu pitched two innings, and struck out two, while Morrison came on in the ninth and fanned a pair to seal the victory.

For Springfield, Dan Green (Oakland, N.J.) lasted 3.1 innings, and gave up nine hits, nine runs and walked a pair. Freshman Jack Weinberger (Sunapee, N.H.) came on in relief, pitching two hitless innings while also striking out one. Classmate Kenny Manero (Hudson, Mass.) finished out the contest for Springfield and the Sport Management major pitched 3.2 innings, gave up two hits and struck out two batters.

Back-to-back base knocks from Kendall Helbert (St. Louis, Mo.) and Greenwood to lead off the top of the third inning, followed by a walk from John Drago (Peoria, Ariz.) loaded the bases for the Engineers, only to have the next batter, Filiere blast a grand-slam home run over the left-field fence to give MIT an early 4-0 lead. After a double from Tew, a double from Hayden Cornwell (Newport Beach, Calif.) scored Tew to put MIT up five.

In the next frame, the runs continued to pour in for the Engineers, as a base-clearing triple from Filiere made it 7-0, MIT, before Tew drove in Cornwell from third, and a sacrifice fly to right from Cornwell gave the Engineers a 9-0 lead.

MIT tacked on four more runs in the top part of the sixth, as three runners were granted first base by virtue of a walk, before Cornwell hit a ball to the pitcher, who overthrew home plate, resulting in a pair of runs, followed by an RBI single from Nate Rodman (Corvallis, Ore.) and a sacrifice fly to center from Reid Bishop (Cypress, Texas) giving MIT a 13-0 lead.

With Starr on second and Mark Joao (Wappinger Falls, N.Y.) on third, CJ Monroe (Wolcott, Conn.) grounded out to third, but Joao was able to score to get the Pride on the board, but still trailing, 13-1.