Recap
The Nichols College baseball team dropped a pair of non-conference games Saturday, losing 8-7 in extra innings to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and 5-4 against Bates College.

Game 1 – MIT vs Nichols
Graduate student Chris Anderson (2-for-4), senior Joe Assenza (2-for-6) and freshman Kyle Desjardins (2-for-4) all collected multiple hits in the loss against the Engineers (1-0). Nichols (1-3) junior Christian Naccari scored two runs to lead the team.

The Engineers were led by senior Jared Schwait, who went 3-for-4, including a three RBI triple in the eighth inning to give the Engineers their first lead of the game. The pitching matchup was a battle of step-brothers with Nichols sophomore Justin Hurley and MIT sophomore Casey Bussone both taking the mound. Hurley went six innings, giving up five hits and striking out three batters while giving up only two runs. On the other side, Bussone went four innings, striking out five and giving up two runs (one earned). MIT walked it off in the 10th inning after junior Thomas Allison hit a sacrifice fly to left field, driving in the winning run from third base.

Game 2 – Bates vs Nichols
Nichols junior Kyle Bouchard cranked his first home run of the season, while scoring two runs in the loss to Bates. Freshman David Caron went 3-for-5 and was one of three student-athletes to record multi-hit efforts in the game. Anderson went 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Desjardins also went 2-for-4, while also recording two RBI.

The Bobcats (3-4) got a two-RBI effort from freshman Andrew Chi, who singled in two runs in the third inning to open the scoring. Nichols (1-4) sent junior Jack Dicenso to the hill, and he surrendered four runs on six hits in 2.2 innings. Sophomore Robert Cobb relieved Dicenso in the third inning and proceeded to pitch 4.2 innings, striking out four batters and not allowing a hit.

Bates, meanwhile, sent senior Justin Foley to the mound. He went five innings and gave up one run on five hits while punching out four. For the second time on the day the Bison lost on a walk off sacrifice fly to left field, this time to sophomore Noah Loughlin, who had just come in to pinch hit.
 
Three things you need to know…
-Caron now has three multi-hit games in his first five outings this season.
-Assenza and Anderson both batted over .500 in the past week.
-Nichols recorded only two errors in 19 innings of play on Saturday.
 
Next Game
Monday, March 11 @ Mass. Maritime, 3:30 p.m.