Following best season in program history, Jumbo baseball off to hot start in 2017

Continuing the success of last year's school record-setting 35-win season, Tufts opened its 2017 season with its annual spring break trip to Virginia and North Carolina and recorded six straight wins and an 8-1 overall start. The latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll, taken on March 21 after the team had played just three games, had Tufts ranked tenth in the nation and first in New England.

The Jumbos were hot at the plate in their first action of the spring, boasting a team batting average of .346 and outscoring their opponents 95-57 over the nine games. The pitching staff posted a team ERA of 3.64 with opponents hitting .282 against them, both solid early-season stats considering that coach John Casey was trying to work in a number of young pitchers over the course of the trip and relied less on his veteran starters. The 8-1 record also marks the program's most successful spring break trip since Tufts' 11-1 trip in 2014, and this year's squad is already on pace to surpass last season's program-best 35-8 overall record.

But the team isn't concerned with any of those numbers or stats at this point in the season. Though the Jumbo offense is clearly hot right now, senior second baseman Tom Petry noted that the team's mentality at the plate is still focused on turning in quality at-bats.

"We don’t focus on average as much as we focus on understanding the importance of each pitch, being able to refocus each pitch, and not getting distracted," Petry said.

Showing off their ability to rally late in a game, the Jumbos capped off the trip with a dramatic extra-innings win on Sunday. Tufts was down 5-0 to host Virginia Wesleyan University after the second inning and the visitors didn't get on the scoreboard until pushing a run across in the fourth to come within four runs.

Jumbo first-year right-hander Brent Greeley came in to relieve starter and senior tri-captain Tim Superko in the bottom of the fourth and turned in an impressive collegiate debut, pitching a 1-2-3 frame in his first inning on the mound and allowing no runs and just three hits over three-and-two-thirds innings, giving his team a chance to come back.

The Jumbos tied it up at 5-5 with a four-run rally in the sixth, with junior shortstop Christian Zazzali knocking in two runs with a base hit followed by an RBI single from Petry and then a sac fly from senior tri-captain Harry Brown. Both teams added a run each in the eighth inning to keep the score tied at 6-6, and after a scoreless ninth inning the game went into extra innings.

Senior right fielder Oscar Kutch got things started for Tufts in the 10th by drilling a one-out triple down the right field line, and then sophomore catcher Eric Schnepf drove in the game-winning run by singling through the left side to bring Kutch home as Tufts took a 7-6 lead. Tufts junior closer Ian Kinney then pitched a 1-2-3 bottom half of the inning to seal up the win for the Jumbos and earn the save.

Petry said the team has been working to improve trust among its players.

"We've been working on making the play in your face and trusting the guys next to you, trusting the pitcher, knowing the guys next to you are going to make the play," Petry said. "We focus on doing one thing at a time [and] it all falls into place. We don’t worry about the second throw before we make the first throw."

Sunday's victory followed a more comfortable 12-2 win over the Apprentice School on Saturday in which junior first baseman Nick Falkson went three for four at the plate and had four RBIs on the game. First-year Brad Marchetti pitched two scoreless innings in his first collegiate appearance, and senior tri-captain Speros Varinos clinched his third win on the season after giving up just two runs in a five-inning start. Varinos, who was named to D3Baseball.com's Preseason All-America Second Team back in January, leads the rotation so far with his 3-0 record and an impressive 1.42 ERA.

The team rarely trailed in its first six games of the trip, defeating Castleton University 6-4, St. Vincent College 22-0, Apprentice 12-4 in the first meeting of the two teams on March 18, Guilford College 11-9, Averett University 10-1 and Methodist University 8-5. 

Against Guilford, Tufts entered the ninth inning down 9-7 after blowing an early 6-1 lead by giving up six unanswered runs across the fourth, fifth and sixth frames. Tufts sophomore center fielder Casey Santos-Ocampo tied the game 7-7 in the eighth inning with an RBI double, but Guilford responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead.

Tufts battled back with four runs in the ninth to steal the win on a crucial Guilford error. Santos-Ocampo came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth and, down to his final strike with the game on the line, drilled a fly ball into right field that the Guilford right fielder couldn't hold onto. All three baserunners took off on contact with two outs, with each of them easily scoring to take an 11-9 lead.

Kinney then closed out the game in a scoreless bottom of the ninth. Kinney, who figures to be the team's main closer this season, recorded three saves and a win on the trip and has a 2.16 ERA.

In the lone loss of the season so far, Tufts fell short of a perfect road trip during its game against Lynchburg College on Friday. A two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth allowed Lynchburg to beat the visitors 8-7. The Jumbos' play was sloppier on Friday, as they committed three errors in the game after committing just two throughout their first six games, but they still maintained a 7-6 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

The Hornets tied the score and had a man on third with two outs and a 1-2 count when the Hornets' Griffin Wild flew to center. But Santos-Ocampo -- who was one of the Jumbos' hottest hitters and who ironically had gone 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs in the game -- misjudged the ball and saw it land in front of him as the Hornets walked off with the win.

Kutch described the game against Lynchburg as testament to the fact that the team had not been playing as well as it could have throughout its spring break trip.

“We made some mistakes on the field, and we came together and realized that we hadn’t been playing our best the whole trip,” Kutch said. “We need to play at our best regardless of if we win or lose. [That game] acted as a wake-up call and got us in the right mindset for the rest of the trip.”

Despite an overall strong start to the season, the team still feels it has more to work on.

“I don’t think we are firing on all cylinders just yet," Kutch said. "It is still the beginning of a season and we are still coming together as a unit. Good strides have been made, but there is a lot of work to be done.”

The team will host its home-opener on Huskins Field tomorrow against Mass Maritime at 3 p.m.