The most successful season in Tufts club baseball history ended in heartbreak on Saturday with a walk-off, 7-6 loss to Harvard in the first round of the playoffs.
In its fifth year playing in the New England Club Baseball Association, Tufts finished the regular season with an 8-4 record, which was good enough for second place in the Southeast division. The Jumbos earned the final playoff spot, making the postseason for the first time in the team's five-year history.
Going into the last game of the season against Boston University, Tufts was a half game ahead of Dartmouth for the last playoff spot.
"We needed a win because it was so close between us and Dartmouth," senior co-captain GJ Vitale said. "We didn't know what would happen if we ended with the same record, so we knew we needed to win to give ourselves a chance. And we did."
The team won the game in walk-off fashion, earning its first-ever spot in the playoffs. For senior co-captain Evan Kreshtool, it was the most memorable moment of the season.
"[The game was] Friday night under the lights, which only added to the excitement," Kreshtool said.
The win gave Tufts the sixth seed in the playoffs, meaning it was matched up against third-seeded division rival Harvard in the first game of the playoffs. Harvard won the Southeast division with a 9-2 record but had split its season series 1-1 against Tufts.
"We went in pretty confident," Vitale said. "We realized that we were pretty even teams."
Vitale and junior Jack Zurier, the team's top two starting pitchers, had each started one game against Harvard during the regular season. Zurier drew his success this season from a high-velocity fastball and a good slider, while Vitale makes up for his slower fastball with a variety of quality off-speed pitches.
The bulk of the offensive production throughout the season came from sophomore shortstop Eric Smiley and junior catcher Reilly Walker, who batted third and fourth in the lineup, respectively.
Vitale had high praise for the duo.
"They were our two big bats," he said.
Since Zurier had fared better in his outing against Harvard than Vitale did, the decision was made for Zurier to start on Saturday. Vitale would be saved for a possible game two, to be played against University of New Hampshire.
Unfortunately for Tufts, the first game of the single elimination tournament did not go as planned. After jumping out to an early 5-1 lead, walks and defensive mistakes plagued the Jumbos. They gave up the early lead and lost in the bottom of the seventh inning on a walk-off single up the middle.
"The bases were loaded, so we had the infield in," Vitale said. "There was a little chopper off the end of the bat that went up the middle past the pitcher. It went just between the shortstop and second baseman."
And just like that, the season was over. Kreshtool, however, was quick to call the season a success.
"Going in, we didn't really have goals other than to have a good time," Kreshtool said. "That's what the club team is all about. But once we started piling up the wins, we wanted to reach the playoffs for the first time in team history."
Although Vitale will graduate this spring, he says that team's prospects are looking good.
"We didn't have many seniors [this year], so we have a lot of young guys," he said. "The bulk of our team is younger guys, so the future looks bright for our team."
