Jumbos open New England schedule with three straight wins

Coming off a 6-3 road trip through the south over spring, the baseball team returned to New England with a bang in a crushing 21-3 victory over Massachusetts Maritime Academy last Wednesday before sweeping a doubleheader against Bates on Saturday to move to 2-0 in NESCAC East play.

The Jumbos are off to a strong start in their quest to stay atop the eastern division and win their third straight pennant after beating division rival Bates in its first two conference games. Tufts outlasted the hosts in an extra-inning affair in the first game of the series. Bates scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to an RBI single by senior third baseman Conor Reenstierna to take a 2-0 lead. But the Jumbos tied the game in the next half inning with consecutive walks with loaded bases. Junior right fielder Oscar Kutch was hit by a pitch to pick up the first RBI and senior shortstop Matt Moser earned the next one. Bates starter Connor Colombo struggled to find the strike zone in the inning, handing out five free passes in the inning, including four straight that cost him the runs.

With the score still knotted up at two at the end of seven, the game went into extras. Tufts' sophomore third baseman Tommy O'Hara led off the eighth with a base hit and was standing on third after a sac fly and a passed ball. First-year DH Dan Kelly drove in what would be the game-winning run for the Jumbos with an RBI single and put his team up 3-2.

Tufts junior starter Speros Varinos stayed on in the eighth to close out the game and earned the win after going the distance, tallying ten strikeouts and allowing two earned runs on seven hits and two base-on-balls.

The second game of the doubleheader was far more one-sided than the first. The Jumbos scored nine runs in the first three innings, with five of those coming in the second inning alone. The Bobcats were completely shut down offensively, thanks to a complete game shutout from Tufts' senior starter and apparent ace Andrew David. The southpaw went seven innings, struck out seven batters and allowed seven hits and one walk. The shutout earned him his second win of the season, pushing his record to 2-0.

"We're definitely happy winning the first two games of NESCAC play," junior left fielder Harry Brown said. "We're excited, but the series isn't over. We're still going to have to play [Bates] later in the season. So we're still focused on that, but it was good to get those first two NESCAC wins out of the way."

The Jumbos had a few standouts on the offensive side, including senior captain and center fielder Cody McCallum. McCallum, despite going hitless in the first game of the doubleheader, came through with a two-RBI single in the top of the second inning that sparked a rally and scored three runs on the day. O'Hara followed up his game-winning run in game one by going two for four with four RBIs in the second game, while Brown went one for two on the day with a walk and scored two of his team's nine runs.

"I was content with my performance, but I really tried to stay more focused on the process than the outcome," Brown said. "I got a couple of hits this weekend, and I'm happy with that but I also struck out three times, which can't really happen. Mentally, though, I felt pretty [good]. Again, me and a lot of the guys on the team try to focus more on how we go about our business than the result."

Tufts opened its New England action last Wednesday by blowing out Mass. Maritime in a non-conference game that saw the team explode for 21 runs, while allowing just three in nine innings of play. Sophomore DH Mike McLaughlin set the tone for the Jumbos in the first, going yard for a three-run shot off the Mass. Maritime Buccaneers' starter Trevor Brown, who was roughed up early and often in his outing. Tufts used the game to let its staff stretch their arms, with seven different pitchers taking the mound. Junior Tim Superko got the start and gave up just a solo home run in his 1.1 innings of work, while Varinos got the win in 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.

Brown led the offensive outpouring, tallying five of Tufts' 19 hits while driving in three runs and scoring one. McLaughlin and Kutch had four RBIs and a multi-hit game each, while seniors McCallum and Moser joined them in the multiple hits category. Though never really competitive, the game was also a good early-season opportunity for bench players to see some action, as 24 of the 27 players on Tufts' roster entered the game.

The Jumbos look to build on last week's success in a doubleheader at home on Saturday against the Brandeis Judges before getting back to NESCAC competition the following weekend.