This past weekend, the Tufts baseball team traveled to Brunswick, Maine to take on Bowdoin College for the first NESCAC matchup of the season. After a 6–1 win against Thomas College, Bowdoin entered the doubleheader with a 10–4 record, looking to extend their five-game win streak. On the other side, the Jumbos started the season with a 7–7 record, ready to bounce back after a loss to University of Massachusetts Boston on March 27. Despite the rain on Friday that postponed the first game of the series, both teams suited up for a sunny Saturday afternoon doubleheader that would be an exciting first conference matchup.
Senior captain and infielder Ozzie Fleischer spoke on the Jumbos’ mindset. “They have good starting pitching every year, and this year is no different. So going into those games, we kind of stressed all week that our goal was going to be to get into their bullpen,” he said.
Game one started at 11:30 a.m. with pitcher Luca Coronado taking the mound for Bowdoin and junior outfielder Ben Leonard batting for Tufts. The first inning ended scoreless for both teams with no Jumbos being able to get on base. In contrast, the Polar Bears got one runner into scoring position with outfielder Ben McKenzie hitting a single down the left field line and advancing to second base on a balk.
The first run of the day wouldn’t come until the top of the fourth inning, when sophomore catcher Malcolm Whitfield drove in sophomore outfielder Owen McKiernan with an RBI groundout to give Tufts a 1–0 lead. The Jumbos scored again in the fifth inning with freshman outfielder Malachi Pena hitting a double to left field, scoring sophomore infielder Jesse McCullough and making the score 2–0. Bowdoin quickly responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI groundout by infielder Kevin Murray, which scored McKenzie and a steal of home by catcher Chris Dirks following a walk.
Despite a slow start, the Jumbos’ offense took off in the sixth inning. Whitfield hit a three-run home run to left field to bring in senior third baseman Patrick Solomon and graduate student infielder Connor Flavin. Leonard would score again off a sacrifice fly from McCullough, and, in the top of the seventh inning, Fleischer hit a sac bunt to bring in Solomon and stretch the lead to 7–2, which would be the final score.
Overall, Fleischer was impressed with the offense in the two games. “Hitting is definitely contagious in baseball, and we definitely got into a groove in that first game. Malcolm had that huge home run to jumpstart the offense in that first game, and we never really looked back from there and carried over that energy right into game two.”
That energy definitely showed. Tufts recorded 18 hits in the second game, with the team batting an average of .429 compared to the team average of .355 in the first game. In contrast, Bowdoin hit .310 in the first game and only .243 in the second game. The Jumbos got off to a much quicker start in game two with a four-run third inning to take a 4–0 lead. In that inning, McCullough hit a two-run single that scored Leonard and Fleischer. The team added two more runs in the top of the fourth, with an RBI single from Fleischer that scored Whitfield and a single from McCullough that brought home Fleischer.
On the defensive side, game two saw senior pitcher Silas Reed take the mound for the Jumbos. Reed threw 91 pitches over six innings, striking out six batters and walking just one. Bowdoin had their first runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, when outfielder Reuben Siegel reached first off an error, allowing Murray and Dirks to score the team’s only runs of the game. In the top of the seventh, batting for Tufts, junior outfielder Henry Fleckner hit a double to left center and then advanced to third off a failed pickoff. McKiernan then singled to left field, allowing Fleckner to score the Jumbos’ seventh run of the game. McKiernan was able to advance to second after another failed pickoff and then stole third base. Solomon brought McKiernan home with a single, bringing the lead to 8–2. The last run of the game came at the top of the eighth with Fleckner hitting a solo home run, ending the game with a 9–2 win for the Jumbos.
“Playing two games and taking a series is awesome,” Fleischer said. “Winning both those games and taking a conference series is about as good as you could have hoped for a conference start. And I think we’re going to look to carry that forward this weekend against Bates [College].”
The Jumbos are back in action for four games this week. They beat Wheaton College 6–4 on Monday at home and then are traveling back to Brunswick to face Bates in a three-game series on Saturday. The third game of the Bowdoin series will be made up on April 14.
