MEDFORD, Mass.—Seniors Reed Tubbs (Pflugerville, Texas) and Malachi Soqui (Castaic, Calif.) finished with three hits apiece and seven different players drove in a run to help third-seeded MIT defeat sixth-seeded Babson College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament action on Wednesday at Sol Gittleman Field. 

Babson, which dropped its third straight game, sees its season come to a close at 23-13. MIT improves to 17-18 and advances to the double-elimination portion of the tournament to face second-seeded Coast Guard on Thursday. 

Graduate student Thomas Parisi (Somers, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 and classmate Tanner Santos (Bethany, Conn.) doubled, walked and was hit by a pitch for the Beavers, who stranded 13 men on base in the loss. Sophomore Jason Finkelstein (Walpole, Mass.) gave up six runs, just two of them earned, over 2.2 innings and dropped to 3-2 on the year with the loss. 

Graduate student Teddy Schoenfeld (Boulder, Colo.) was 2-for-4 with a double, two walks and two RBI, classmate CJ McCarthy (Pawling, N.Y.) also doubled and knocked in a run as part of a two-hit day, and sophomore John Dwyer (Northport, N.Y.) singled twice and added two RBI to pace the Engineers. Soqui added two runs batted in and sophomore Mason Estrada (Covington, La.) struck out five and allowed just three hits over 5.2 innings to improve to 6-0. 

The Green and White left runners on second and third in the top of the first and MIT got an RBI single from Dwyer and a squeeze bunt by junior Owen Malone (Portsmouth, R.I.) to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. McCarthy doubled and scored on a throwing error, Soqui followed with an RBI double and Dwyer and Schoenfeld followed with two-out RBI knocks to help the Engineers extend their advantage to 6-0 in the third. 

The Beavers had opportunities to cut into their deficit in the middle innings but Estrada recorded back-to-back strikeouts with runners on second and third in the top of the fifth, and the hosts got an RBI double from junior Zev Moore (Jerusalem, Israel) as part of a three-run rally in the bottom of the frame to make it 9-0.

Senior Brian Rapanan (Gurnee, Ill.) registered the first of his two strikeouts to escape a bases-loaded jam unscathed in the sixth was helped when MIT turned a double play after Babson's first two hitters reached base in the top of the ninth. He gave up three hits over 3.1 innings to record his third save of the year. 

GAME NOTES
•    Babson is now 13-10 all-time against MIT in the NEWMAC Tournament. 
•    Prior to Wednesday, the Beavers had won their opening game of the conference tournament in each of the last four seasons. 
•    Sophomore Ryan Liss (Hollywood, Fla.), who was plunked twice in the loss, finished the year with a 30-game on-base streak. 
•    The Beavers were shutout in the conference playoffs for the first time since suffering a 1-0 loss to Wheaton on May 7, 2016.