Tufts extends win streak to nine games before fall to Roger Williams

With five games in a four-day span this week, the baseball team extended its winning streak to nine games, following two wins over Brandeis on Saturday as well as wins against Framingham State on Sunday and at Salem State on Monday. However, the streak was finally snapped on Tuesday afternoon by Roger Williams.

Undefeated since their spring break trip, the Jumbos kept the game close throughout, with the score tied at four after the fifth inning at Tuesday evening's game. But the Hawks took advantage of the Jumbos' relievers and put up four runs across the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, which proved too much for the Jumbos, who suffered their first loss since March 23 by an 8-5 margin.

Despite the team’s success over the last three weeks, coach John Casey still feels that the team has a long way to go to achieve their goal of defending their spot atop the NESCAC East Division, in which they have finished first each of the last two years.

“We’re just trying to play well,” Casey said. “I don’t think we’ve gotten to that point yet. That’s all that matters to us — the way we play the game — whatever results come out [of that]. It’s been frustrating. We have more talent than we’re showing. Our attitude and effort have been off the charts, [but] the way we’ve been playing the game has been very average.”

Tufts faced Salem State Monday, where they captured their ninth consecutive win. The Jumbos scored early as senior centerfielder Cody McCallum singled to lead off the game, which was quickly followed by a triple from junior Oscar Kutch.

The Jumbos scored 10 more runs between the fourth and fifth innings, and despite two homers from the Vikings’ senior captain Mike Davis, the Jumbos lead was insurmountable, and they went on to walk away with the win, 11-7.

In one of their closest games of the season, the Jumbos narrowly beat the Framingham State Rams 3-2 in a walk-off win on Sunday. The Rams got ahead early with a two-run first-inning shot from junior DH Ryan Wardwell to take a lead, which they held for most of the game. But the Jumbos' senior starter Andrew David locked it down and kept the Rams off the board for the rest of the game in an impressive outing. The southpaw retired a streak of 12 batters in a row after the home run before surrendering a double in the fifth and then retired 10 in a row from the fifth inning through the eighth, while allowing just the two hits and striking out 12 Rams in his eight frames. 

Framingham State's two-run lead eventually disappeared in the seventh after Kutch doubled in the tying run. With the score tied at two in the bottom of the ninth, McCallum managed to get on base and was advanced by Kutch with a sac bunt. The Rams avoided the Jumbos' most dangerous middle hitters, intentionally walking senior shortstop Matt Moser and hitting sophomore third baseman Tommy O'Hara with a pitch. With one out and the bases juiced, sophomore first baseman Mike McLaughlin hit a grounder to second and the Rams tried to turn the double play but could not get McLaughlin at first, allowing McCallum to score and giving the Jumbos the walk-off win.

Despite turning in one of the best starts of the year for the Jumbos, David got a no-decision, with sophomore Ian Kinney instead getting the win after pitching a 1-2-3 ninth and being the pitcher of record for the walk-off.

“We’ve just got to have some consistent at-bats,” Casey said. “There’s just too much discrepancy between different guys. Same thing [with pitching], we’ve had some guys throw very well, and some guys have been disappointing. I think we’ve been pretty good defensively all year, but when we get down into our pitching staff, we’ve had some good appearances and some not-so-good appearances.”

In the team's home opener on Saturday, Tufts faced Brandeis in a doubleheader. In the first game, junior starting pitcher Tim Superko allowed just two runs and four hits in seven innings. Superko also notched nine strikeouts. The Jumbos broke the game open in the fifth and sixth innings, scoring three and and then six runs respectively, securing the 10-2 win.

"My first two starts [this season] were okay," Superko said. "I think I was making my pitches, but I was a little bit too inconsistent. But in my start against Brandeis, I definitely felt a lot more comfortable. Getting ahead with my fastball let me throw off-speed pitches when I [was] ahead in the count [and] was definitely a big thing for me."

In the second game, the Jumbos jumped out to an early lead, scoring three in the first inning and another two in the fourth, thanks to Moser’s two-run double. But two Jumbos' errors in the fifth inning allowed the Judges four unearned runs to cut into that lead. The Jumbos still held on through the sixth and seventh, however, to claim the 5-4 victory.

Tufts leads the conference and the NESCAC East division in winning percentage but has only played two games against NESCAC competition so far this season, winning both against Bates on April 2. That means, though, the Jumbos now face a second half schedule filled with NESCAC opponents.

"The only thing that matters is conference record," Casey said. "Overall record is irrelevant; this is essentially a 12-game season. We've only played two of the 12 and we've got an awfully long way to go."

The Jumbos play some of their most important baseball of the season this weekend with a three-game series against NESCAC Eastern Conference rivals Trinity (4-2 NESCAC, 9-11 overall).

"Everyone is excited to get back into our NESCAC schedule," Superko said. "I think the expectation is to take all three games from Trinity. That's our plan going into every NESCAC weekend. We definitely have the pitching and the hitting to do it, so it's just about producing."

The action kicks off at Huskins Field at 3 p.m. on Friday before continuing with a doubleheader starting at noon on Saturday.