Magnetic field

The students typically learn why a curveball curves, a knuckleball knuckles, and how the force-velocity curve affects muscles and the human skeleton.

Head coach and program director Andy Andres, assisted by four MIT varsity baseball players, thinks nothing of whizzing beach balls or hardballs around the classroom to prove a hypothesis. Then on the field, the players speak their own language. Nobody here yells “can of corn.’’

“When on a baseball field have you ever heard somebody yell ‘moment of inertia’ and people know what you mean?’’ said Andres, with a laugh.

The students are more than willing to go the distance.

Akeem Lindo, 14, of Hyde Park, gets up at 5:45 to take two buses to get to MIT in time for class. His friends make fun of him. This is his second year in the program.

“I say, ‘Hey, at least I go to a college for summer school,’ ’’ he said.

Administrators here say they would love to nurture his talents. MIT wants the diversity.

“He told me he wants to be an engineer and design instruments for doctors and you could just see the lights going on,’’ said Kate Youmans, manager of the middle school programs at MIT. “A year ago I don’t think he knew what an engineer was.’’

There are no girls in the program, a dilemma MIT has wrestled with for years.

“There’s an achievement gap where eighth- and ninth-grade boys are more likely to fail and fall through the cracks than girls,’’ said Youmans. “They have a lot of pressure from their peers that it’s not cool to be smart anymore.’’

Tajae Smith, 14, of Mattapan was initially skeptical of the program and he took some heat in the neighborhood.

“At first I thought it was going to be all work and no play,’’ he said. “It’s two hours a day of classes and then all baseball. It’s actually pretty cool because we’re learning new things, things I’ve never done.’’

Statistics in baseball are everywhere, he said.

“We do Red Sox stuff, we do Yankees stuff, but we boo when they say Yankees,’’ said Smith. “Actually, everybody wants to learn how to calculate their statistics themselves.’’