ORANGE, CA (March 25, 2023) -- The Tufts University baseball team dropped both ends of a non-conference doubleheader to host Chapman University Saturday to end the Spring Break trip out west, falling 7-0 in the opening contest before being topped 6-3 in game two.
Game 1: Chapman 7, Tufts 0
In the first contest of the day, the Jumbos were stifled by the Panther pitchers managing just two hits in the game one loss.
Chapman opened the bottom of the first with a solo homer to get the game going, and added a two-run single later in the frame to take a three-run lead after one.
Tufts wouldn't get its first base-runner until the top of the third, when
Ozzie Fleischer singled through the right side with one out in the frame. Fleischer would end up stranded as Chapman starter Wyatt Thompson worked around the hit.
The Panthers added on to its lead with a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, and got a three-run shot from Kai Osaka in the bottom of the seventh to take a 7-0 advantage.
Jimmy Evans singled in the top of the eighth, but that was the last base runner the Jumbos would get in game one.
Connor Podeszwa allowed four runs in four innings of work, striking out two batters.
Cameron Mayer got his first innings of action since Opening Day, as he tossed three innings while scattering four hits.
Aidan Tucker also worked a scoreless inning for his first action of the season.
Game 2: Chapman 6, Tufts 3
Chapman took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third innings, but the Jumbos rallied back to tie the game as Fleischer singled in two runs in the top of the fifth to make it 2-2.
Evans would give the Jumbos their first lead of the day with a RBI single in the top of the sixth, plating
Henry Fleckner who had earlier walked to start the inning.
The lead would be short lived for Tufts, as the Panthers pushed across four runs in the bottom half of the sixth to take a 6-3 edge.
Patrick Solomon doubled in the top of the seventh, but that was the last hit the Jumbos would get the rest of the way in dropping the rubber match of the three-game set with Chapman.
Evans finished 2-for-4 with a RBI, while Fleckner was 1-for-3 with a run, stolen base and base on balls. Solomon added a stolen base to his double, and
Jackson Duffy was 1-for-4 with a double.
Silas Reed got the start and allowed two earned runs (4 total) and nine hits while fanning six.
Justin Wells struck out three of the five batters he faced, while
Liam Wilson came in and allowed just one runner while striking out one over an inning of work.
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Tufts returns to the East Coast Sunday and will be right back in action on Tuesday evening at UMass-Boston, battling the Beacons at 3 p.m. at Monan Park.
--JUMBOS--
