Baseball Will Head To Connecticut To Battle Mitchell In NCAA Tournament

MEDFORD, MA (May 15, 2023) -- The Tufts University baseball team, coming off its seventh New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title, will head to Mitchell College in New London, CT to battle the host Mariners in the 2023 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament. Husson College and Wheaton College (MA) will also head to New London to take part in the NCAA Regional as well. 

The Jumbos, who will be the higher seed against Mitchell, will play at 1:30 p.m. Friday afternoon, while top-seed Wheaton will play Husson at 10 a.m. on Friday. The winners from Friday's games will play at Noon on Saturday, while the losers from Friday's games will play in an elimination game Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Game five featuring two remaining teams with a loss will play at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. 

Sunday's games will start at 11 a.m., with the final undefeated team needing just one victory to advance to next weekend's NCAA Super Regionals. Tufts has won four straight, going 31-9 on the season while finishing the regular season with a NESCAC record of 11-1. Tufts depth in starting pitching will be a huge advantage in a tournament setting like this weekend's, as the Jumbos have Silas Reed, Connor Kinney and Connor Podeszwa to all turn to. Offensively, Jesse McCullough is hitting .373 on the season, while Jimmy Evans has posted a .323 batting average with 15 doubles, two triples and four homers. 

Mitchell is 31-8 on the season after going 11-1 in the New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) while knocking off Eastern Nazarene 15-2 in the title game Sunday. Senior outfielder Dougie DelaCruz is hitting .446 with 22 doubles, six triples and seven homers, while sophomore Bo Yaworski has six homers and is batting .357 on the year. The team is batting .330 in 2023, hitting 25 long balls on the season. On the mound, Ryan Solimine has tossed five complete games and is 7-2 with a 2.21 ERA, while Eddie Kaftan is 7-1 with a 4.20 ERA and 36 strikeouts. 

On the other side of the bracket, Wheaton comes in as the top seed after knocking off Babson College twice last Monday to earn the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) title. The Lyons are 37-6 on the season and are ranked No. 8 in the latest D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll. Husson will take on Wheaton after winning the North Atlantic Conference title with a 4-1 win over SUNY Cobleskill last Tuesday. Husson is 24-17 on the season overall. 

For the complete NCAA Regional Brackets, click HERE.