CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A bottom of the ninth homer from MIT forced extra innings where both teams had a base runner, but neither capitalized resulting in a 3-3 tie due to darkness between Suffolk baseball and the Engineers Tuesday afternoon at Fran O'Brien Field.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | MIT 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (5-6-1) | MIT (3-2-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk grab a 2-0 edge in to the top of the behind a one-run double from Tim Brigham followed by a RBI single by Trevor Lee.
The Engineers cut the margin in half in the home half of the first frame before evening the score two innings later.
Things remained locked up at 2-all until the Rams made moves in the top of the sixth. With two outs, Rich Giandrea plated Brigham, who reached on a fielder's choice and moved into scoring position during Lee's at bat, with a single up the middle, to put Suffolk in front 3-2.
From there, Michael Muscarella came in to take over for Parker Browne on the hill. The rookie reliever put together three consecutive three-up, three-down frames to preserve the one-run, 3-2, lead for the blue-and-gold.
Three outs away from victory, Muscarella gave up his first hit of the day and it was Thomas Allison's second dinger of the day that leveled the playing field at 3-all. Muscarella held his composure from there, retiring the side, to force extra baseball.
Suffolk's five through seven hitters all went down swinging in the top of the 10th to keep the 3-3 game intact. The Engineers had their chance in the bottom of the inning as Ethan Rolland doubled to left center with two outs on the board. With the game winning run 180 feet from home plate, Andrew Krause sent a high fly ball to center in the hopes of walking off for MIT, but Logan Heckman made the grab and the game went onto the 11th.
The Rams had a chance to in the top of the 12th as Will Hopkins started things off with a double to left field and was pushed to third thanks to a sac bunt by Blase Cormier. The go-ahead run was stranded there, however, as the next to Suffolk batters went down swinging to keep things locked at 3-3.
Muscarella took care of business once again in the bottom of the 12th as the Engineers went down 1-2-3 to keep the tied score present.
With the sun set minutes away and no lights at Fran O'Brien Field, the umpires called the game, resulting in the 3-3 stalemate.
PITCHERS PICTURE
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Browne put together a two-run, three-hit, three-walk, six-strikeout over the first 5.0 innings of action.
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Muscarella served 7.0 frames of relief work in which he allowed one run on a pair of hits and sat down six hitters.
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Nick Charchut (2R, 2H, 3BB, 4K) and Tony Ric (3R, 6K) worked 4.0 innings for the Engineers with the former starter and the latter closing.
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Ben Burke (3.0 IP, 1 R, 3H, 2BB, 2K) and Jonah Scott (1.0 IP, 1H, 1 BB, 1K) also took the hill for MIT.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
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Cormier finished the day with a pair of hits and one sac bunt.
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Giandrea contributed two hits and one RBI.
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Hopkins recorded one double and one run scored.
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Brigham scored two runs, brought in one and had one hit, a double.
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Lee pitched in one hit and one RBI.
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Ben Isaak rounded out the Rams with hits with one to his credit to go along with one sac bunt.
NOTEWORTHY
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Suffolk and MIT met for the second straight season and 60th time overall.
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The Rams and Engineers tied for the first time in the all-time series.
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Suffolk snapped an eight-game skid against MIT.
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The draw is a first in the Anthony Del Prete and the first time a Rams' outing results in a tie since a 5-5, 12-inning tie at Wheaton April 21, 2014.
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Browne sat down a career-high six hitters, one looking, in a personal-best 5.0 innings of work.
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Muscarelle recorded a personal-high six strikeouts in a career-best 7.0 frames of action.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk lifts the lid on its home slate tomorrow, Wednesday, March 20 when it entertains Salve Regina at East Boston Memorial Park at 4 p.m.