2025 Tufts University Baseball Season Preview

MEDFORD, MA (February 25, 2025) - The Tufts University baseball team enters their final few days before their 2025 campaign begins on March 5th with a new head coach, Bryan Stark, as the Jumbos' skipper this coming season. 

Tufts barely missed out on a NESCAC Championship last season, dropping Game 7 to Middlebury 2-9 to close out the year. After years of sustained conference success and a conference title in 2023, Bryan Stark takes over the program with continued excellence in mind. 

"The expectation on the field is to win," Stark said.

The Jumbos feature a squad lined with returning talent, with the most notable departure being second team All-NESCAC pitcher Gavin Brown. The incoming class of first years join Stark in their Tufts debut. Integrating the collection of newcomers has been far from a challenge for the Jumbo debutants.

"There's been good focus and effort, good intent, good communication," Stark said, "Overall it's been nice. When we came back in the [beginning of] the spring, we hit the ground running with a ton of excitement and energy, so we had to find a way to set that to be maintained and sustained the entire year… We're gearing up for a long season."

Joining the Jumbos alongside Stark as first year Jumbos are 12 incoming freshmen. Lachlan Ellis enters as the two-time Connecticut Southwest Conference Pitcher of the Year, and hitter James Henshon joins the squad as a two-time All-ISL selection. 

Despite the influx of fresh faces, Stark reiterates that the Jumbos are a squad that is focused on its veteran leadership. "It's an older crew, there are guys that have been here," he said, "The bat may get some guys into the lineup, but defense will keep those guys in the lineup."

Defense is certainly a strength for the Jumbos, as they return one of the top pitching staffs in the NESCAC and a strong defense to boot. Last season, the Jumbos paced the NESCAC with the best team earned run average (4.50). Leading that effort was rising senior Jacob Lapp, who pitched to a 2.70 ERA with a 1.01 WHIP and a .232 batting average against across 46 and two-thirds innings of work. Defensively, the Jumbos sat second in the NESCAC with a 96.6% fielding percentage and over 1000 putouts. 

It is good that the Jumbos began preseason with exuberance and enthusiasm because they will face a grueling start to the season. Long sleeves will be necessary as they play five of the first six games of the year at home at Sol Gittleman in the less-than-friendly March weather. "I think you can get caught up in who has the advantage and who has the disadvantage [with weather]," Stark said, "but I stopped thinking about that years ago and started paying more attention to what we can do every day regardless of how many days we have outside together."

As far as team mentality, Stark has his crew ready to grind. Tufts will be a team that looks to manufacture runs in several different ways. "It would be nice to just not give any signs and hope for doubles and home runs, but I think we want to set it up so that we have good pitchers up against good lineups. We want to do what we can to wear down an opponent, pitch by pitch. No retreat, no surrender."

Here is a breakdown of the roster by position:

INFIELD:

The Jumbos will return their middle infielders from last year, but will need to replace the corner infield positions after the graduation of first baseman Connor Flavin and third baseman Patrick Solomon.

Returning at shortstop is the 2023 NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year Ozzie Fleischer, who had a 95% fielding percentage last season while being involved in 18 double plays. His senior leadership will provide a veteran presence to one of the best defensive infields in the conference. Joining Fleischer as a returning middle infielder is junior second baseman Jesse McCullough. His 97% fielding percentage combined nicely with a .310 batting average and .823 OPS to establish an excellent foundation to build off this year.

Looking to fill in at third is first year Cole Bohane. The 2023 Catholic Conference MVP joins Tufts after a strong career at BC High, and will compete for the starting spot in the hot corner. Across the diamond, fellow freshmen Derek Desmarais and James Henshon each have a chance to play some first base. Desmarais joins the Jumbos as a two time Virginia All-State selection, while Henshon's local pedigree saw him earn two All-ISL selections and an All-ISL honorable mention across four years at Roxbury Latin.

OUTFIELD:

Two thirds of last year's starting outfield returns to Tufts this season. Henry Fleckner and Cooper Smith each return for another year of Jumbo action after solid 2024 campaigns. Fleckner returns after leading Tufts in batting average last season (.353) and held a strong 97% fielding percentage with the lion's share of his work coming from center field. Smith started 21 games for Tufts last season, hitting .262 and maintaining a perfect fielding percentage.

Senior Ben Leonard has a great chance to fill the gap in the outfield after a 2024 campaign that saw him hit .220 largely from the DH position, but his glove has seen use in the past. Junior Owen McKiernan and sophomore AJ Lysko will also have the opportunity to fill the empty spots left by the departing Pena and John Smith.

PITCHING:

The 2024 NESCAC leaders in team ERA feature a staff littered with returning arms. Jacob Lapp highlights the returning hurlers as the senior righty gets ready to follow his excellent 2024 season. Silas Reed also returns to the squad for his fifth season with the program. He pitched the most innings out of anyone for Tufts, devouring over 70 innings in just 12 appearances. He will look to improve on his solid 3.95 ERA mark from last year. Senior Connor Podeszwa will return to add depth to the starting rotation after pitching over 40 innings last season. 

First year Lachlan Ellis will fit into the rotation nicely, and joins fellow freshmen arms Emmet Christian, Rhys Shannon and Landon Meng as newcomers to the staff.

The Tufts pitchers will likely be backstopped by graduate student catcher Connor Brala, but several underclassmen catchers will contend for that spot in the battery.


Tufts begins their 2025 season on Wednesday, March 5th playing hosts to Brandeis at Sol Gittelman Park in an afternoon game at 3:00 to kick off their quest towards NESCAC and national glory.