Box Score LEWISTON, ME - Nick Falkson had a pinch-hit single, stole second with two outs, and then scored on a base hit by Tom Petry in the 12th inning as the Tufts baseball team finished its NESCAC East schedule with a 6-5 win at Bates College Sunday afternoon.
The win gives Tufts (26-6) an 11-1 mark in the NESCAC East, its best since the 2011 club posted the same record. As the East's #1 seed, the Jumbos will host the NESCAC Baseball Championship at historic Holman Stadium in Nashua, N.H., May 13-15.
Today, Bates had battled back from a 5-2 deficit by scoring three times in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 5-5. A pair of Jumbo errors scored two runs after Bates' Ryan McCarthy singled home a run.
The Bobcats had two runners on with one out in the ninth, but Jumbo reliever Ian Kinney worked out of it. Bates' Justin Foley and Tufts' Joe Thomas pitched scoreless 10th and 11th innings. After Falkson and Petry combined to put Tufts ahead, Tufts senior Rory Ziomek relieved Thomas with one out and one on in the Bates 12th. He earned a save with a strikeout and groundout.
The Jumbos had started the scoring with two in the third. Petry led off with a single and Christian Zazzali walked, then Harrison Frickman sacrificed both to second. Cody McCallum followed with an rbi single. Zazzali would score on a wild pitch. Oscar Kutch doubled home a run in the fourth to put Tufts in front 3-0.
Bates narrowed the margin with a two-run fourth. Brendan Fox singled, took third on a single by Samuel Warren, and scored on a ground out. Warren followed home on a sacrifice fly by Berto Diaz pulling Bates to 3-2.
RBI singles by Stephan White and Dan Kelly gave Tufts a 5-2 advantage in the top of the seventh.
Tufts starter R.J. Hall (7 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs) was strong through seven before putting two runners on in the eighth. Thomas picked up the victory in relief, his third. McCallum and Petry each had two of Tufts' 11 hits. Zazzali scored twice.
Warren finished with three of Bates' seven hits. Reliever Connor Speed went five innings allowing four hits and two runs, though neither was earned.
The Jumbos return to Huskins Field on Monday for a 3 pm game against Eastern Connecticut. Bates hosts Gordon tomorrow at 3:30.
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