Box Score 
ASHLAND, Va. – The Tufts University baseball team lost their first game of the 2022 season on Saturday afternoon at Randolph-Macon College by a score of 10-6.
Peter DeMaria (pictured) led the Tufts offense, going 4 for 5 with a run scored and two rbis, including a solo home run in the seventh inning. John Fritz also had success at the plate, finishing 3 for 5 with a run scored. Ethan Iannuzzi had a good day batting for Randolph-Macon, going 4 for 5 with three runs scored and three rbis, including a solo home run in the eighth inning.
Both teams scored two runs in the first inning, with the Jumbos striking first in the top half with a DeMaria rbi single through the right side of the infield to score Jimmy Evans after he walked, and a Kyle Cortese sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Fritz who got on base with a single. After a Matthew Myers double for Randolph-Macon in the bottom half of the first, Iannuzzi drove him in with a double of his own. Myles Webb followed that up with a single through the right side of the infield to score Iannuzzi and tie the game at two.
The Yellow Jackets added five unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings combined to take a five-run lead. Spencer Pietruszynski hit an rbi double in the bottom of the third, followed by a Carter Johnson rbi single to right field to score Pietruszynski. Myers had an rbi single in the fourth, followed by an Iannuzzi single and Webb two-rbi double down the left-field line to make it 7-2 going into the sixth inning.
Tufts answered back with a big three-run sixth inning, as Ozzie Fleischer hit a sacrifice fly to center field to start the rally and score Clay Sowell, who singled to start the inning. After a Ryan Noone single and Ben Leonard walk, Evans hit a two-run double to right field to cut the Yellow Jackets' lead to just two. Randolph-Macon tacked on one run in the bottom half of the inning on an Iannuzzi rbi single to center field, scoring Grayson Bush, who led off the inning with a single.
Each team crossed the plate once in the seventh inning, as DeMaria smashed a solo home run over the left field fence for the Jumbos and Aaron Lautenschlager drove in Pietruszynski on a sacrifice fly to center field after Pietruszynski doubled to left-center. Iannuzzi extended the Yellow Jackets' lead in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to left field. Wyatt Stanley shut down the Jumbos in the ninth to clinch the 10-6 victory for Randolph-Macon.
Tufts starting pitcher Brendan McFall took the loss, pitching four innings and allowing seven earned runs on nine hits and three strikeouts. Bere Bauers got the win for the Yellow Jackets, throwing 3.1 innings and allowing three earned runs and six hits with three strikeouts. Stanley earned the save, throwing the final two innings and allowing just one hit with zero earned runs and one strikeout.
Next up, the Jumbos will look to even the series against Randolph-Macon as they play them once again on Sunday, March 27th at 12 pm.
Written by Tim O'Brien, Athletic Communications Intern
