WATERVILLE, MD - After playing for nearly three hours and 30 minutes on Friday, the Colby College and Tufts University baseball teams had to finish the first game of the NESCAC East series on Saturday after the team's battled to a 9-9 game through nine innings in a contest the umpires had to call because of darkness. The teams finished what they started on Saturday by playing the 10th inning of the postponed game and 25th-ranked Tufts scored two runs to earn the 11-9 victory.
In the 10th inning of the postponed game, senior Chase Rose (Paradise Valley, AZ) was hit by a pitch to start the inning and was sacrificed to second by Matt Collins (Hopkinton, MA). After a fly out put Colby an out away from ending the inning, Tufts received a key rbi double from Ian Goldberg (Lake Forest, IL) and then an rbi single by Tom Howard (Rockville Centre, NY). Colby only managed one runner on base in the bottom of the 10th.
On Friday, the Jumbos scored four runs in the first inning, two in the second, and had three in the third inning to take a 9-5 lead on the Mules. Colby (10-11 overall, 0-3 NESCAC East) chipped away with one run in the bottom of the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth, and a lone run in the seventh.
John Schroeder doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning for the Mules. He moved to second after John Lerner walked, took third on a wild pitch, and then tied the game on an RBI single by Nikolas Atsalis.
Tufts started the game unusually by scoring four runs on just one hit – a leadoff single by David LeResche (St. Louis, MO). The Mules had three straight errors in the inning and then had back-to-back walks as the Jumbos took the early lead.
Colby answered with four runs of its own in the first inning. The Mules loaded the bases after Richard Newton doubled, Atsalis reached on an error and then Brendan Gallagher was hit by a pitch. Mike Mastrocola had an rbi walk to bring home Newton. After an out, Taro Gold singled to bring in Atsalis to cut the margin in half. Gold was thrown out trying to steal second base, but Mastrocola was able to score from third base. Brandon Nieuw followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the contest.
Eric Weikert (Avondale Estates, GA) had an rbi single and Sam Sager (Cranston, RI) drove in the other Jumbo run on a groundout as Tufts scored two in the second inning. Colby got one run back when Schroeder led off with a single, moved to second when John Lerner was hit by a pitch, took third on a groundout by Newton and scored on a groundout by Atsalis.
Tufts scored three runs in the third inning after the Mules got the first two outs of the inning. Sager's rbi single brought in LeResche, who started the rally with a walk. The Jumbos then scored two unearned runs after a Colby error.
The Mules' Gold doubled and then scored on a Nieuw single in the bottom of the third. Lerner led off the Colby fourth with a double and was brought in on Newton's rbi single. Gold led off the fifth with a single and later scored on a Tufts error. Gold was 3 for 4 and scored two runs. Schroeder had two hits and a pair of runs, while Lerner was on base in three of his four opportunities.
David Orlowitz (Wakefield, MA) scored three runs, had one single, two walks and was hit by a pitch for the Jumbos. LeResche finished with two hits and two walks to go with a pair of runs. Weikert also had two hits and walked twice, while Ian Goldberg (Lake Forest, IL) finished with three walks.
Game Box Score
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Game release courtesy of Colby College
