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Box Score 2 WATERVILLE, Maine - Tufts built an early lead and didn't look back in game one, but Colby came from behind in game two as the teams split a baseball double-header on Sunday in Maine. The Jumbos won the opener 8-4 before the Mules posted a 12-9 victory in the nightcap.
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| Clay Sowell finished the second game with nine total bases. |
In game one, the Jumbo led 5-0 after two innings and 8-2 through four en route to the win. Miles Reid and Kyle Cortese led the way at the top of the order combining for four hits, four runs and two rbis.
Tufts got right to it with three runs in the first. Reid (3-5, 2 runs) singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Ryan Daues. The Jumbos then loaded the bases and plated runs on back-to-back walks by Nate Bozzella and Connor Bowman. Tufts pushed the lead to 5-0 in the second when Reid reached by error and scored on Cortese's second home run of the weekend.
After retiring six of the first seven Colby hitters, Jumbo starter Lucas Gustavson ran into trouble in the third. The Mules went on to score twice on a base hit by Patrick McConnell and a double by Cabot Maher.
Tufts answered right back as walks continued to hurt Colby pitching. There were four more in the top of the fourth including bases-loaded rbi freebies to Daues and Jackson Duffy. The Jumbos scored three times with just one hit in the inning and led 8-2.
Gustavson walked Palmeri to lead off the fifth and he would score. McConnell added an rbi single for an unearned run against Jumbo reliever Spencer Langdon in the seventh.
Gustavson claimed the win for Tufts, going 4.1 innings allowing five hits and three earned runs with five K's. Langdon was strong in relief giving up one hit and no earned runs in 2.2 frames with three punch-outs.
McConnell went 3 for 4 with two rbis to lead Colby. Elijah Cohen took the pitching loss, while Teddy Durbin hurled three scoreless innings of relief. Mules pitching walked eight Tufts batters.
Tufts led early again in game two. A two-run double by Clay Sowell in the first and a three-run homer by Jimmy Evans in the second helped the Jumbos build a 7-3 advantage heading into the bottom of the third.
The Mules would score in each of the next four innings to grab the lead. A two-run home run by Caleb Jung got them started in the third. McConnell earned one of four Colby walks in the fourth and scored to make it a 7-6 game. He then highlighted a four-run Mules fifth with a two-run single and also scored as the hosts took a 10-7 advantage. Jonah Katz also had a run-scoring single in the inning.
Sowell hit a two-run home run in the sixth pulling the Jumbos within 10-9. However, Colby continued to score with two more in the bottom of the sixth including an rbi triple by O'Brien. Tufts brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the seventh, but Maher retired the last two hitters to secure the victory.
McConnell finished a great day with a 3 for 4 second game with three runs and two rbis for Colby. O'Brien and Maher also had three hits for Colby, who finished with 13. Them two along with Palmeri and Jung all scored twice. Katz was 2 for 4 with three rbis.
Evans led off for Tufts and was 3 for 3 with four rbis, while Sowell finished 3 for 4 with four rbis and two runs. He also tripled in the fourth inning and finished the game with nine total bases. Ryan Noone was 2 for 3 and scored twice.
Maher got the win in a game where seven of the eight pitchers who came in allowed multiple runs. The best outing was by Colby's Matthew Scibilio (3.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R).
These two teams that played four non-divisional games this weekend will face each other again next weekend in NESCAC East divisional action.
