Off to a strong start, baseball goes 6-3 in spring break games

Fresh off a spring break that saw the Jumbos go 6-3 on their annual road trip through the South, the baseball team is back in New England preparing to face off against Mass. Maritime Wednesday in addition to its first NESCAC series this weekend against Bates.

“We go down [to the South] to try and figure ourselves out as a team,” coach John Casey said. “We wanted to give guys opportunities to play and see who settles into what spots. Whenever you play that many games in that a short period of time, you’re going to have some good things and some bad things.”

The team went into the trip with questions to answer along with plenty of opportunities for players to step up and make a strong early impression. The team started its season in Newport News, Va. against its traditional first opponent, Castleton, whom it defeated 15-5 on Friday, March 18. Tufts repeated the victory against Castleton the next day in its second game, though this time only by a 5-2 margin.

The Jumbo lineup opened the season with an offensive outpouring in the first game against the Spartans as senior shortstop Matt Moser went five for five with a double and five RBIs, while the rest of the team combined for 10 more hits. Castleton struck first blood in the top of the first against Tufts junior starter Tim Superko and stayed on top for most of the first five frames, leading 5-3 going into the bottom of the fifth. But with a pair of two-run singles from Moser in the fifth and the sixth as part of a two-inning, nine-run outburst, the Jumbos took the lead and scored 12 unanswered runs through the rest of the game in total to cruise to their first win. Junior pitcher Matt Rothstein came on in relief of Superko in the fifth and gave up just two unearned runs over five solid innings of relief to earn the win.

The next day, Tufts bounced back from an early two-run deficit in the first to take its second win of the season behind a strong outing from junior starter Speros Varinos, who gave up just two unearned runs and five hits over seven innings while striking out 10 en route to picking up the win.

The Jumbos suffered their first loss of the season later that same Saturday in a thriller against the MIT Engineers that went 13 innings in War Memorial Stadium in Hampton, Va. MIT scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and spoil the win for Tufts senior starter Andrew David, who only allowed the two runs on five hits over 8.1 innings, while striking out 10. Both teams then scored in the 10th to keep the game going at 3-3. The Jumbos led off the scoring in the top of the 13th to go up 4-3, but MIT answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two runs to earn the walk-off win the second run and game winner coming off of a dramatic squeeze bunt.

With the cancellation of a game against St. Joseph of Vermont on Sunday, the team headed down to North Carolina for its next game against Guilford on Monday, March 21. In a game that the team would probably like to forget, Tufts suffered its toughest and ugliest defeat of the road trip in a 15-0 thrashing. The Jumbos fell behind in the first inning when the Quakers put up five runs. The lead would grow to nine in the second and keep growing slowly for the rest of the game as the Jumbos, who did manage to get eight hits, still failed to notch a single run.

Tufts played its second double-header of the trip the following day. The team started the day by dispatching Averett 18-9. Moser, continuing to impress at the plate, knocked in eight runs in the game, with a grand slam and two-run double highlighting his contribution. Through the first nine games, Moser boasts 15 RBIs and a .553 slugging percentage -- both of which lead the team -- along with a .342 batting average. Superko picked up his first win after giving up just three earned runs on five hits over six frames.

Later that night, Tufts took down Greensboro College 8-6 after putting up four runs in the first three innings and holding on for the win. Sophomore third baseman Tommy O'Hara -- who led the Jumbos in batting average and slugging percentage last season and was second in home runs after Moser with four -- picked up his first big fly of 2016 in the win, as did his classmate and DH Dan Kelly.

On Wednesday, March 23, Tufts battled Methodist University in a tight contest but lost its third game of the trip in a close 4-3 finish after Methodist dropped a two-run home run in the sixth inning that gave it a lead they wouldn't lose.

The Jumbos then played their final two games of the trip on Friday and Saturday, facing off first against Lynchburg. The Jumbos notched a dominant 17-3 victory over the Hornets. Eight runs in the fifth inning gave the Jumbos a more than comfortable margin of victory as the team capitalized on the Hornets' four errors, and the bats came alive. Nine different Jumbos picked up RBIs in the game, with sophomore second baseman Christian Zazzali, O'Hara and junior left fielder Harry Brown picking up two each.

Tufts capped off the trip with a clean 4-0 victory on Saturday over the Apprentice School as first-year pitcher R.J. Hall pitched a three-hit shutout in just the second start of his career. Hall was one of the standouts on the trip for the Jumbos. He recorded wins in the Greensboro and Apprentice School games and allowed just two runs in his 15 innings for an ERA of 1.20, while earning himself NESCAC Pitcher of the Week honors.

With so many games in such a short period of time, it would be easy to think the team would be worn out, but Casey insists extended trips like the past week are vital.

“It’s baseball,” Casey said, “It’s just baseball. It’s how the game is supposed to be played. It’s not like this once-a-week stuff. If you’re a baseball player, you don’t get to prepare for everything. You’ve got to show up and grind it out.”

In a promising sign, the team is already receiving major contributions from its younger talent in the season, especially to its pitching staff, as offensive leaders like Moser and O'Hara have been getting comfortable at the plate.

“Overall, I thought the pitching was okay,” Casey said. “R.J. [Hall] threw very well, so we’re happy with that. We moved people around a little bit. We’re still a work in progress; we’re still trying to settle on some things, but we’re certainly further along than where we were.”

The Jumbos returned from their trip Monday evening and have one day of practice before facing the Mass. Maritime Academy Buccaneers today at 3:00 p.m. on the road. The game will be Tufts' last before it heads into NESCAC action with a three-game series at Bates this Saturday and Sunday.