Tufts baseball recovered from its fourth loss of the season last week to belt out five straight wins at home over a four-day span, including a sweep of a three-game NESCAC series against Trinity. The Jumbos came out on top against the Trinity Bantams 7-4 in a game on Friday afternoon before winning two very different kinds of games in Saturday's doubleheader. The morning game saw the hosts pull out a dramatic win in extra innings with a final score of 5-4, while the series finale later in the day featured Tufts' offense, which came alive again to handily beat Trinity 11-4.
At home, Tufts, swept another doubleheader on Monday, besting University of Massachusetts (UMass) Dartmouth 9-5 and then 13-8. With this run of success, the Jumbos improved to 18-4 on the season and remain undefeated in NESCAC play (5-0) after sweeping Trinity.
It's no secret that offense has been the key to Tufts' success over this run. Over their current five-game winning streak, the Jumbos racked up an average of nine runs per game. Most of the games were won in an impressive fashion; four of the five games were won by three runs or more.
Perhaps the most dominant player recently for the Jumbos has been junior left fielder Harry Brown. Brown went 7-for-13 over the five-game stretch, knocking in seven RBIs, scoring seven runs and hitting two home runs. Brown has emerged as one of the team's top performers at the plate, as his season average now sits at .426 to lead the Jumbos.
Another hot bat in Tufts' lineup was senior Matt Moser.In the past five games, Moser recorded six hits in 16 at-bats with one walk, while racking up seven RBIs and a home run.
Moser's home run was crucial to the Jumbos' win over the Bantams on Saturday morning. Tufts held a 4-2 lead in the first game of the doubleheader, with two outs recorded in the top of the seventh inning. One more out would have secured the win for Tufts, but back-to-back home runs kept the Bantams afloat.The leadoff hitter, Trinity junior Nick Pezzella, blasted a solo shot, which was followed by another homer from first-year Johnny Stamatis to tie the game. The game continued through the seventh inning and into extra time, and neither team was able to score until the bottom of the eighth. Moser led off that half of the inning and on the first pitch he saw, the senior crushed a home run to right field for the walk-off.
"It was funny, I actually didn’t watch Moser’s home run because I was doing my post game running, which all pitchers do after they pitch," junior Speros Varinos, who started for the Jumbos in that game, said. "When I saw everyone run out of the dugout I knew someone must have hit a home run. Immediately, I ran from where I was, jumped over the fence to the baseball field and jumped on top of Moser."
Junior Speros Varinos had a great game as well, pitching six innings and striking out seven batters, while only giving up two runs on four hits. Despite Varinos' strong outing, poor relief pitching spoiled his lead in the seventh and just an inning after, Varinos was taken out of the game, giving him a no-decision.
"I don’t like to get caught up in things like no-decisions because that's out of my control," Varinos said. "My job is to help put my team in the best position to win the game. Wins and losses for myself are not as important as the team coming away with wins."
Friday's series finale was a relatively high-scoring affair, and like most offensively-focused games Tufts has played this season, the team came out on top to win by seven runs. Sophomore third baseman Tommy O'Hara and first-year catcher Eric Schnepf both homered in the bottom of the first inning, kicking off the offensive outburst and accounting for five of the Jumbos' 11 runs.
Senior starter and ace Andrew David was taken out early in that game after giving up four runs, and the senior was relieved by sophomore Ian Kinney, who threw a strong five innings for the Jumbos. In those five innings, Kinney gave up just three hits, one walk and no runs while striking out six batters.
After rolling over Trinity in a three-game sweep, Tufts moved on to host UMass Dartmouth. The UMass Corsairs did not fare any better than the Bantams at Huskins Field, however, as they were also swept by the Jumbos. David redeemed his start from the previous game, coming on in relief and pitching two scoreless innings while striking out three. First-year Joe Thomas earned the win on the mound, giving up five runs in five innings with three strikeouts.
On the offensive side of the ball, Tufts continued to be a scoring machine. Some standouts from the UMass Dartmouth series were senior captain center fielder Cody McCallum, who went 3-5 with a run and an RBI in the second game, and junior right fielder Oscar Kutch, who had three RBIs over the course of the double header.
Tufts' next series will be against Colby at Huskins Field again, starting with a game on Friday and then the typical Saturday doubleheader. The Jumbos will look to keep up their production on offense to pull out the series win, but the Colby Mules, who currently sit in second place in the NESCAC East right behind the Jumbos and have been Tufts' biggest challenge within the division in recent years, will look to prevent another Jumbo sweep.
