Box Score
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Sophomore Nate Izzo hit a grand slam and finished with six rbi
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LEXINGTON, VA - The Washington and Lee baseball team saw a five-game win streak come to an end with an 18-4 loss to Tufts on Sunday afternoon at Cap'n Dick Smith Field. The Jumbos pounded out 17 hits, including home runs by sophomore Nate Izzo (Saunderstown, RI) and junior Eric Weikert (Avondale Estates, GA).
The Jumbos (2-0) began the scoring with five unearned runs in the second inning. After freshman starter Matt Hedberg (Charlotte, NC) retired the first batter of the inning, Weikert singled up the middle. He then moved up to second as freshman Carter Bidwick (Brookeville, MD) reached on an error. Hedberg got the second out of the inning on a groundout that moved each runner up 90 feet. A grounder to the right side of the infield resulted in another W&L (10-9) fielding error and allowed Weikert to score while keeping the inning alive. Freshman Connor McDavitt (Holden, MA) drew a two-out walk to load the bases and Izzo blasted a grand-slam home run to left to make it 5-0 in favor of the Jumbos.
Tufts made it 7-0 in the third when Weikert launched a two-run shot over the wall in right field.
W&L began to chip away at its deficit, plating a pair of runs in the sixth on a bases loaded walk and an RBI groundout by junior Chris Nault (Atlanta, GA) to make it a 7-2 ballgame.
However, any hope of another come-from-behind victory was doused when the Jumbos erupted for eight runs in the seventh inning. Tufts sent 13 men to the plate, including 11 before the Generals could record the second out. Izzo singled home two more runs in the inning. Senior shortstop Sam Sager (Cranston, RI) hit a two-run double.
Tufts added another run in the eighth and two more in the ninth while scoring the most runs against a W&L team since an 18-4 loss to Bridgewater on March 24, 2009.
Junior Alex Maragos (Chicago, IL) and senior Ben Thomas (Birmingham, AL) recorded RBI base hits in the seventh and ninth innings, respectively, for W&L.
Hedberg was charged with the loss (0-1), allowing seven runs (2 ER) on five hits and a walk in 3.0 innings.
Sophomore Christian Sbily (Gaithersburg, MD) picked up the win (1-0) for the Jumbos. He allowed two runs on three hits with six walks and two strikeouts in 5.0 innings.
Generals junior Jonathan Stutts (Charlotte, NC) pushed his hitting streak to 14 games with a 2 for 3 showing at the plate. He doubled, drew a pair of walks and scored twice. Junior Alex Mait (Chesterfield, VA) was 2 for 2 with a double, raising his batting average to .429 on the season, and Maragos finished 1 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.
For Tufts, Izzo finished 2 for 7 with the grand slam, six runs driven in and two runs scored. Sager was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored, while Weikert was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and four runs scored. Freshman James Howard (Rockville Centre, NY) was 2 for 2 with two runs in his collegiate debut, coming off the bench.
Tufts continues its spring trip at Guilford on Monday for a 3 pm start. Washington and Lee returns to action on Tuesday when it heads to Bridgewater for a 4:00 pm game.
Game boxscore
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Game recap courtesy of Washington and Lee
