LEWISTON, ME (April 18, 2026) – The Tufts University baseball team used strong pitching in both games to earn the sweep in a doubleheader NESCAC matchup against Bates College at Leahey Field this afternoon.
The Jumbos (21-8, 6-3 NESCAC), gave
Emmet Christian the nod to be the starting arm for game one. Similar to
Cole Donato's appearance yesterday, the sophomore held the Bobcats scoreless with one hit allowed and seven strikeouts through the first six innings of action. The North Carolina native earned his fourth win of the spring in his second career complete game and finished with eight strikeouts, one walk, and one earned allowed on two hits in seven full innings of dominance.
In the top of the second inning, the Jumbos brought a run home to take an early lead.
Tom Pender singled to left field to put a base runner on and moved to second after another single to left from
Owen McKiernan to continue his strong weekend.
Gavin Lind scored Pender from second with a third consecutive single to the left side of the outfield, but McKiernan was tagged out at second.
The Jumbos stretched their lead to six with five runs on five hits in the top of the sixth frame to put Bates on their heels.
Jack Kamin (1),
Tate Bannish (1), and Pender (2) each registered RBIs in the inning.
The Bobcats spoiled Christian's shutout effort in the final inning to make the final score 6-1. Henry Prince immediately put a runner in scoring position with a double down the left field line and advanced to second on a single from John Federico. Brady Thompson plated Prince with a sacrifice fly ball to left field.
In game two,
Michael O'Brien took the mound for the start and whiffed three batters through the first two innings to keep Bates off the board before allowing a run in the bottom of the third.
Tufts scored first again with a run in the opening frame to take a 1-0 advantage. Henshon led off by reaching first on a wild pitch after striking out and advanced to third after a Kamin single to left center field. Henshon then crossed home with an RBI ground out from Bannish.
In the bottom of the third inning, Thompson began with a base knock to left field and moved to second base after a sacrifice bunt from Liam Yardley. Joe Yaxall brought Thompson to the plate to knot the game at one with an RBI single up the middle.
The Jumbos regained a one-run lead in the very next frame after McKiernan rocketed a no-doubter to deep right center for his third home run of the season. The homer made him 7-for-9 at the plate over the course of this three game set against Bates.
The back-and-forth trend continued with the Bobcats posting three runs in the bottom of the fourth to flip the script and grab a two run lead.
Mitchell Hwang replaced O'Brien in the middle of the fourth and produced four strikeouts and no runs allowed on two hits in 5.1 innings of work to capture his fourth win of the season as a reliever.
Tufts went on to outscore Bates 6-0 in the final five innings to capture an 8-4 victory.
Kamin extended his impressive hit streak to 14 games, which marks the longest hitting streak since
Henry Fleckner (15) during the 2024 season.
The Jumbos are back home on Wednesday with a non-conference matchup against Roger Williams at 3:30 PM.
--JUMBOS--
