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Box Score 2 WATERVILLE, Maine – The Tufts University baseball team split the two games of their New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East doubleheader with Colby on Sunday. It took late game heroics for the Mules (7-7, 1-3 NESCAC East), including two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and one in the bottom of the eighth, to earn a game one win, 5-4. However, the Jumbos (6-2, 3-1 NESCAC East) tallied five runs in the second inning and seven in the third inning en route to a 17-0 win in game two.
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| Brendan Mcall pitched six shutout innings in the game-two blowout. |
In the opener, the Jumbos jumped out to an early lead as back-to-back doubles by junior Miles Reid and sophomore Jimmy Evans led off the ballgame. Evans replaced Reid on second and his double gave Tufts a 1-0 lead. Senior Kyle Cortese followed that with a third consecutive hit, a single, to put runners on first and third. Juniors Peter DeMaria and Ryan Noone recorded back-to-back sacrifice flies which pushed the Jumbos to a 3-0 lead in opening frame.
Tufts added a fourth run in the top of the second inning as senior Ryan Daues singled to start the inning. Junior Connor Bowman singled as well to create first and second before Daues advanced on a wild pitch. Senior Will Burgess earned Tufts' third sacrifice fly of the contest and extended the lead to 4-0 through two innings.
The Mules managed to push a run across as Cabot Maher led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single. He would advance to second on a groundout and score on a single by Ryan Hecht. The hosts continued to threaten in the fourth as Cole Palmeri walked following the RBI single. Both would advance to second and third after a failed pickoff attempt. Caleb Jung walked which loaded the bases. However, Jumbo junior pitcher Lucas Gustavson would limit the damage as he struck out Marcus Forrester to close out the inning.
Tufts would load the bases in the top of the fifth, but could not capitalize on the scoring opportunity. Colby then cut the lead to two (4-2) as Brady O'Brien doubled to center field and Maher singled up the middle to score O'Brien.
Colby tied the game in their last at bat. Following a leadoff single by Patrick McConnell in the seventh, O'Brien doubled to left-center which allowed McConnell to score from first making it 4-3. On the throw home, O'Brien advanced to third and would later score on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Russell tying the game 4-4.
After Tufts went down 1-2-3 in their eighth, the Mules would get the leadoff man on in the bottom of the eighth inning after Dylan Nastri was hit by a pitch. Matthew Panker would come on to pinch run and quickly advance to second on a wild pitch. He would advance to third on a bunt single by Palmeri. Jung put a ball in play and earned a sacrifice fly to score Panker and give the Mules a 5-4 win in extra innings.
Gustavson (4 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 5 K) started the game for the Jumbos. Sophomore Jack Schwartz (2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 3 K) and senior Brad Marchetti (1.1 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 1 K) came on in relief. Marchetti falls to 0-1 on the season. Frank Driscoll (3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 3 K) came on in relief of Elijah Cohen (5 IP, 4 R, 7 H, 3 K) and earned the win, improving to 2-1.
Offensively, Evans went 2 for 4 at the plate with a double and an rbi for Tufts. DeMaria, Noone, and Burgess had rbis for Tufts as well. O'Brien, Maher, and Palmeri had two hits each for the Mules. Five different Mules recorded an rbi.
The Jumbos would post a five-spot in their half of the second inning to get going with their game-two barrage. Cortese reached on fielder's choice that scored senior Brandon Bay. Junior Nate Bozzella singled to score Cortese, and Reid hit a sacrifice fly. DeMaria then plated two with a single to left field.
Tufts continued their offensive attack with seven runs in the top of the third inning as freshman Ozzie Fleischer, Bozzella, sophomore Jackson Duffy, DeMaria, and sophomore Clay Sowell drove in runs in the inning. Three runs came from Sowell's second home run on the year. At the end of their half of the third inning Tufts led 12-0.
DeMaria added another run on an rbi single to left field which extended the lead to 13 through four innings of play.
Sowell added his second home run on the day in the seventh inning, this one a two-run homerun giving the Jumbos a 15-0 lead. Bozzella and Reid added a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to account for the final two runs.
Junior Brendan McFall (6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 K) was outstanding on the mound and improves to 1-0 on the season. Sophomore Gavin Brown (1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 3 K) came on in relief for Tufts. Matthew Scibilio (2 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 1 K) takes the loss for the Mules. He falls to 0-1.
Duffy, DeMaria, and freshman Patrick Solomon led the Tufts 17-hit offense with three hits each. Sowell and DeMaria drove in five and four runs, respectively.
Tufts returns to action on Saturday when they head to Bates for a NESCAC East double-header. Colby will travel to Trinity on Saturday, also for a NESCAC East match-up.
