Heading into Friday's contest at Campus Field in Hartford, Conn., the baseball team sits in a tie with Trinity atop the NESCAC East standings. But by the time the last out is recorded on Sunday, only one of these squads will retain first place.
Both the Jumbos (9-4-1 overall, 3-0 NESCAC) and the Bantams (13-5 overall, 3-0 NESCAC) enter the three-game series on a roll. Tufts is riding a six-game winning streak, but Trinity is amid a four-game surge of its own, and has won 10 of its last 12 games dating back to March 22.
When momentum clashes with momentum, execution tends to determine who prevails. The Jumbos have just recently shown glimpses of their elite potential both at the plate and on the mound while sweeping Bates last weekend, but as senior outfielder Chase Rose admitted, they'll need to perform more consistently to beat a stronger opponent in Trinity. The Daily examines three keys for doing just that.
A good start
Over the past six seasons, the baseball team's success in NESCAC play has hinged almost entirely on its ability to win the first game of a series. The Jumbos have not lost a series in which they took the opener since the 2004 season. Conversely, over that span, Tufts has only won three series after losing game one.
Those records are unsurprising, because the structure of NESCAC play — a nine-inning game on Friday and a doubleheader consisting of a seven-inning and nine-inning game on Saturday — puts a premium on the opener. Tufts benefited greatly from junior Kevin Gilchrist's complete game shutout in its 5-0 victory over the Bobcats last Friday, because coach John Casey had a full complement of relievers available to secure the latter innings in both of Saturday's contests.
An encore gem could be even more important this weekend, as Trinity features one of the best offenses in the conference and is hitting a remarkable .349 as a team. But the Jumbos are more focused on their own play and are unwilling to worry about their opponent.
"We have to take it one pitch at a time," senior pitcher Derek Miller said. "As long as everyone does their job, we'll be successful."
A strong effort on Friday will go a long way toward bolstering the Jumbos' confidence for the rest of the series.
Mistake-free pitching and defense
But even though the Bantams feature one of the most feared offenses in the league, pitching and defense are the great equalizers in baseball, and when one team's arms are on, the other's bats are not.
Against offenses that are capable of putting up multiple runs in every inning, avoiding errors is paramount. Trinity's hitters are patient, as evidenced by their 88 walks in 128 innings at the plate, but pitchers that throw lots of quality strikes and trust the fielders behind them to make plays are able to avoid their wrath.
"They've had a history of putting mistakes over the fence," Miller said. "But as long as we limit those and keep the ball low in the zone, we can keep it on the ground and let our defense do its job."
Despite their offensive prowess, the Bantams have been shutout twice this season. MIT held them scoreless on March 12 by walking just three batters and keeping Trinity hitters off-balance. Southern Maine did the same on March 20, when sophomore Chris Bernard tossed seven innings without walking a batter.
But when runners get on and mistakes are made, the Bantams are primed to take advantage. Colby and Albertus Magnus have learned that the hard way over the past week, as Trinity scored at least 13 runs in each of its last four games against them.
Staying within themselves
The third and final key to beating the Bantams goes hand-in-hand with the second: In order to avoid making mistakes, the Jumbos must trust their own abilities and their game plan.
"We have to stay within ourselves," Casey said. "They're a good team, but we have to worry about what we can control, and know that the results will take care of themselves."
Tufts has as much depth on both sides of the ball as anyone in the conference and the team is confident evlkklery time it takes the field. That includes this weekend's slate against Trinity, whose roster hasn't changed much since the Jumbos swept them at Huskins Field last year.
"If we play our game, we know we can win these games," Miller said.
