HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 10, 2018)  – Senior Quinn DiPasquale didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning, freshman Ambrose Consol drove in the first runs of his collegiate career, and the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team topped Middlebury College, 8-4 on a chilly Saturday evening at Dobbelaar Field. It was the first-ever meeting between the teams. The teams will meet again one week from tonight.

Inserted into the third spot in the lineup, freshman Thomas Paulich went 3-for-4 with an RBI and senior Tommy Baronner doubled and scored twice for the Ducks, who won their second straight game to improve to 3-4.

Designated Hitter Justin Han had two hits and scored twice for Middlebury, who dropped its season opener. The game marked the earliest opening day in program history.

"It was great to get a win tonight following up yesterday's solid effort," said head coach Kristaps Aldins. "Quinn pitched great and we strung together back-to-back crooked numbers on the scoreboard in the third and fourth innings that gave us breathing room. Overall, a very solid win against a good team and we are excited to move our focus to Johns Hopkins tomorrow."

After pitching the first complete game of his collegiate career in his last start, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts native was outstanding from the game's first pitch, working around a one-out hit-by-pitch to strike out a pair in the first inning. The strikeouts continued throughout the game as DiPasquale finished with a career-high 13 punchouts, including a string of five straight.

While DiPasquale (1-1) was silencing the Middlebury bats, the Ducks struck for four runs in both the third and fourth innings to take a commanding 8-0 lead. Stevens sent nine batters to the plate in each of its run-scoring innings.

Junior Matthew Pasko began the first rally with a leadoff-single off Spencer Shores (0-1) and moved to second on a wild pitch. Baronner doubled to center to easily score the Stevens shortstop with the first run of the game. After a strikeout, Paulich singled through the left side to move Baronner to third. Senior Alex Detweiler sharply singled through the right to plate the second run of the inning. After a lineout, Consol drove Shores' 3-1 offering to deep center field for a two-out double, scoring both Paulich and Detweiler. The Long Valley, New Jersey native came into the game 4-for-20 on the season with one extra-base hit. Consol finished with four RBI.

The second rally began in the same manner that the first one did: a Pasko leadoff single. Consecutive walks then loaded the bases, forcing a Middlebury pitching change. Paulich and Detweiler greeted submarining right-hander John Tipps with consecutive run-scoring singles. After a popup brought the second pitching change in the inning, Consol punched Robert Erickson's first pitch of the game through the right side to drive in a pair. Each of the run-scoring rallies took nearly 30 minutes to complete.

Staked with an 8-0 lead, DiPasquale struck out the side in the fifth and retired Andrew Corcoran and Brooks Carroll via punchout to start the sixth. Still pitching with a '0' in Middlebury's hit column, DiPasquale got ahead of Han 0 and 2, however, the Middlebury designated hitter punched the right-hander's next ptich up the middle for a two-single and the Panthers' first hit of the game. Han came around to score on a throwing error to spoil DiPasquale's shutout bid. The Stevens hurler struck out Andrew Hennings to end the threat. 

Middlebury rallied for three runs in the eighth off Ryan Larsen, sending eight men to the plate in the inning. Brooks Carroll led off with a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch before stealing third. Han singled to short to score Carroll on the only hit of the inning. After stealing second, Han came around to score when catcher Matt Branco threw wildly to first after a dropped third strike. The error allowed Sam Graf to end up on second and the Middlebury centerfielder stole third and came around to score on Alan Hennings' groundout.

Freshman Roy Iversen recorded the final six outs the game. 

Up Next: The Ducks depart on their annual Spring Break Trip, beginning with a non-conference game with No. 17/No. 12 Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Stevens topped the Blue Jays 3-1 in Maryland last season.

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