Losses to Middlebury Set Up Crucial Series Against Williams

The baseball team won three of five games this past week but lost an important NESCAC series against Middlebury. Heading into the final week of regular season play, the upcoming weekend series against Williams will determine the final team that makes it into the playoffs from the West division.

Losses to Middlebury Set Up Crucial Series Against Williams
Ryan McIntyre ’25 makes contact during an at-bat. McIntyre went three for four against MIT, including a go-ahead three-run home run. Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios. 

The baseball team lost an important NESCAC series against Middlebury this past weekend, but they were victorious in their two out-of-conference games. Now in the final week of the regular season, a massive series against perennial rival Williams looms on the horizon.

The Mammoths opened the week with a weekday away game against Springfield College on Wednesday, April 20. The Pride scored four runs in their half of the third inning to take a 4-1 lead following a first-inning run from the Mammoths, but that was all the scoring they would muster for the remainder of the contest. The Mammoths rallied back from the three-run deficit thanks to two runs in the fifth inning and another three runs in the seventh inning — along with stellar relief pitching from four Mammoths who did not allow a single run over the final six innings — to ultimately take a 6-4 win. Tyson Luna ’25 got the win in relief, and Nick Giattino ’24, fresh off his no-hit performance from last week, earned his first save of the season.

The Mammoths then hopped on a bus for the long trip to Middlebury on Friday, April 22. In game one, both offenses were stifled by solid starting pitching through the first three innings, with each team only managing one hit each. The Panthers broke the game open in the fourth inning, however, and continued their scoring onslaught in the following frames. They scored five runs in the fourth, added seven more in the fifth, and then added two in both the sixth and seventh innings. The final was a lopsided 16-0 defeat for the Mammoths. They had just three hits in the contest, compared to the Panthers’ 17.

Game two on Saturday, April 23, a seven-inning game, was a much tighter affair. The Mammoths leaped out to a 3-0 lead in their first two turns at the plate, scoring two runs on a Daniel Qin ’22 single in the first and adding another with a Jack McDermott ’25 RBI double in the second. The Panthers slowly seized control of the game over the course of the next five innings, though, scoring five unanswered runs to take a 5-3 lead. There was hope in the seventh inning for another Mammoth comeback, as Luke Padian ’24 doubled home Jackson Reydel ’23 to decrease their deficit to one with just one out. Representing the tying run, Nick Addison ’25 pinch-ran for Padian and advanced to third on a passed ball, but the final two Mammoths were retired to end the game at 5-4. Giattino started and pitched the full six innings, allowing seven hits and five runs, but only four were earned. His record moved to 3-3 on the year with the loss. Hits were even between both sides at seven apiece.

The Mammoths finally put it all together in the final game of the series. They scored seven runs throughout the contest, capped by a solo home run from McDermott in the fourth inning, the first of his collegiate career, and another solo shot by Christian Fagnant ’24, his second homer of the season. The Mammoths had six more hits than the Panthers and made no errors in the contest, while the Panthers committed a whopping six.

Jacob Ribitzki ’24 was phenomenal from the mound. He pitched the complete nine innings, allowing just four hits and two runs, both of which came late in the eighth inning, and struck out seven batters along the way. His record is now 3-2 with the win.

In their final game of the week on Sunday, April 25, the Mammoths played out-of-conference opponent MIT at home in a game rescheduled from late March. The offense came alive against the Engineers, scoring 14 total runs, the most by the Mammoths in a single game all season, en route to a 14-10 victory. Ryan McIntyre ’25 led the way, going three for four with five RBIs from the leadoff spot, including a go-ahead three-run home run in the fifth inning, the first of his career, that ended up being the winning run. Jack Boyle ’25 reached base safely five times, as he went two for two with three walks, and scored four runs in the process. Five total pitchers took the mound for the Mammoths, but it was Luna who picked up another win in relief, throwing three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, and tallying a strikeout.

The Mammoths now sit at 11-16-1 overall and possess a record of 2-7 in NESCAC conference play. Up next is the most crucial series of the season against the most appropriate of opponents: Williams. The Mammoths play at Williams on Friday, April 29, and then return home for a doubleheader at Memorial Field on Saturday, April 30. The winner of the series will earn the final playoff spot in the NESCAC West division.