LA VERNE, CA (March 19, 2024) -- The Tufts University baseball team had to rally from three deficits, but the Jumbos were able to knock off No. 11 University of La Verne 11-9 in a non-conference contest that took two days to complete due to a lightning stoppage Monday at Ben Hines Field.
Monday saw the game go four and half innings before the game was stopped due to lightning in the area. With storms looking to stay in the Southern California area for the remainder of the night, the game was suspended with resumption slated for 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.
Prior to the game being suspended La Verne (10-4-1) took a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Matthew Diaz drove in two with a triple and then came around to score on a Nathan Perry sacrifice fly.
Tufts would respond though with four runs of its own in the top of the third, as
Connor Flavin started the frame with a walk followed by a walk by
Malcolm Whitfield.
Jesse McCullough singled in a run and then
Henry Fleckner put the Jumbos ahead with a shot to left field to make the score 4-3.
The Jumbos added two more runs in the fourth inning to take a 6-3 lead, as
Ozzie Fleischer pushed across a run with a ground out while Flavin scored on a wild pitch. Jumbo reliever
Hunter Beindorff was solid after taking over in the first inning, but La Verne would get to him in the fourth as the Leopards plated four runs to regain the lead at 7-6.
After a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fifth, the game was halted for the afternoon on Monday, and resumed on Tuesday afternoon. The visiting Jumbos would immediately tie the game at seven in the top of the sixth, as
Jackson Reydel doubled with two outs followed by a two-bagger by
Patrick Solomon to deadlock the contest.
La Verne pushed back in front in the bottom of the seventh as Aiden Salcedo doubled in Nolan Anguiano to make it 8-7. In a back-and-forth game, Tufts would respond with two runs in the top of the eighth as
Ozzie Fleischer singled in a run and then an errant throw by the Leopards allowed the go-ahead run to score to make it 9-8.
Tufts got two big insurance runs in the top of the ninth, as Solomon ripped a two-out, two-run triple into the right-field corner to bring Reydel and
Owen McKiernan around to up the Tufts' lead to 11-8. La Verne would have the tying run up three times in the bottom of the ninth, but
Robert Gray worked around the jam to secure the win.
Reydel came off the bench Tuesday to go 3-for-3 with a double and two runs scored for Tufts, while Fleckner finished 2-for-5 with three RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Flavin was 2-for-2 with a run scored and stolen base, and Solomon tallied two extra-base hits, a walk and three RBI.
Beindorff tossed three innings of relief Monday, allowing three earned runs, while
Liam Wilson got the win as he worked three innings Tuesday while surrendering three hits and striking out two. Gray came in to get the save as he fanned two and scattered two hits over two innings.
DIaz was 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored for the Leopards, who came into the game ranked No. 14 but were moved up to No. 11 with the new announcement of the D3baseball.com poll Tuesday. Noah Garcia also was 3-for-4 with a double in the loss.
Tufts (5-4) will be back in action on Wednesday at 1 PM PDT, taking on Chapman University in Orange, CA at W.O. Hart Park in non-conference play.
--JUMBOS--
