Box Score AUBURN, N.Y. - Sophomore left fielder Jackson Duffy went 5 for 7 with six runs batted in as the Tufts University baseball team opened NCAA play with a staggering 21-17 victory over Cortland on Thursday afternoon.
Playing in the Auburn, New York Regional, head coach John Casey's Jumbos (13-6) advanced in the winner's bracket and will play next on Friday night at 6 pm against Keystone. The Giants defeated Mitchell College 7-1 in Regional action on Thursday. Cortland (27-7) will play an elimination game against Eastern Connecticut on Friday at 11 am.
The four-hour Tufts-Cortland game not only featured 38 runs scored, but the teams combined for 39 hits. Tufts' 23 hits also included four by Clay Sowell and three each for Peter DeMaria and Nate Bozzella. Matthew Krafft, Andrew Michalski and Chris Bonacci each had three hits for the Red Dragons, who finished with 16.
Duffy started his day by placing an rbi single over the second baseman's head scoring Miles Reid for a 1-0 Tufts lead in the top of the first. However, the Jumbos made three errors in the bottom of the inning allowing three runs despite no Cortland hits.
The Jumbo bats would take care of things though. Tufts scored nine times in the top of the second on eight hits. DeMaria laced a two-run double to deep center field, and Kyle Cortese sent the first pitch he saw towering over the right field wall for a three-run home run. Bozzella, who had two hits in the inning, scored the final run of the frame tagging up on a shallow fly to right and beating the throw on a close play at the plate to make it 10-3 Jumbos.
In the third, Duffy's single up the middle scored DeMaria - who had dropped a single inside the right field line - for an 11-3 Jumbo advantage.
Cortland got into the act with six runs in the bottom of the third. Paul Franzese led off with a home run and Michalski had a two-run single cutting the margin to 11-8. That forced the Jumbos to relieve starter Michael Volgende, bringing in Silas Reed. The freshman allowed another run to score, but struck out two to stop the bleeding.
Tufts' offense was far from finished. They scored five more times in the fourth to take a 16-9 advantage. A walk to Jimmy Evans, rbi singles by DeMaria, Duffy and Bozzella and a balk brought in the runs.
The Red Dragons loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth, but could not score. After Reed got a pop-up, Bozzella ranged to his right starting a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
After a scoreless fifth for both teams, they were back at it in the sixth. Duffy hit a two-run single past a drawn-in infield for an 18-9 Tufts advantage. Cortland answered with three of their own in the bottom of the sixth, two coming on a single by Kraftt that closed the gap to 18-12.
The seventh went scoreless, and then Cortland reliever Spencer Weyand kept the Jumbos off the board again in the eighth. The Red Dragons would pull within a run in the bottom of the eighth scoring five times. Scott Giordano cleared the bases with a double to right making it 18-16, then Ben Rhodes followed with a single scoring Giordano for an 18-17 score. With the tying run on second, Jumbo Brad Marchetti got a swinging strikeout to keep Tufts in the lead.
The Jumbos then padded their advantage with three runs in the top of the ninth. Sowell's two-run double and Duffy's sixth rbi on a single highlighted the inning.
DeMaria scored five runs and Reid had four for Tufts. DeMaria, Sowell and Cortese all had three rbis. The Jumbos used five pitchers with junior Brendan McFall recording the final three outs in the ninth. Reed got the win.
Daniel Coleman and Giordano's three runs led Cortland and Krafft recorded four rbis. Giordano and Rhodes also drove in three runs. Starter Ryan Flansburg took the loss, allowing two hits, four walks and four runs in an inning of work.
(Feature photo courtesy of Mark Jagord)
