MEDFORD, MA (May 2, 2026) – The Tufts University baseball team punched their ticket to NESCAC Championship weekend with a 10-3 victory over Hamilton in game two of the quarterfinal round to take a 2-0 series win.
 
For the Jumbos (27-9, 8-4 NESCAC), Emmet Christian was the starting arm for his ninth appearance of the season. The sophomore earned his sixth win of the season to improve his record to 6-1. The North Carolina native produced five complete shutout innings with four strikeouts and four hits allowed to keep the pressure off the offense.
 
The Jumbos backed up Christian's strong performance with some early run support. In the bottom of the first, Tufts put three runs on the board to put Hamilton on their heels. James Henshon led off with a walk and moved to second after an infield single from Jack Kamin. Tate Bannish then advanced both runners into scoring position with a ground out and Malcolm Whitfield singled through the left side of the infield to score both Kamin and Henshon. After Whitfield advanced to the middle bag due to an error from the Hamilton pitcher, Tom Pender singled to score Whitfield from second.
 
In the bottom of the fourth frame, Tufts added on two more runs to stretch the lead to five. Jesse McCullough opened the inning by reaching first on an error and then stole second base. Kamin brought home McCullough with a single into left center field and then scored himself after stealing second and advancing to home after two errors from the Continental's defense.
 
Three more runs in the following innings gave the Jumbos a commanding 8-0 advantage. Caden Abraham, Henshon, and McCullough each touched home with RBIs coming from Bannish (2) and Kamin (1).
 
Hamilton did cut the deficit to five after posting three runs in the top of the sixth. With two outs recorded, Ethan Righter singled to left field and moved to second after another single from Satish Raichur. Alfonso Rada then lifted a high fly ball into shallow right field, but it was dropped by Kamin, so Righter was able to touch home plate. Gianni DiCerbo then doubled to left field to score Rada and Reicher for two more unearned runs.
 
Mitchell Hwang and Derek Desmarais fired the final 3.1 innings of pitches and allowed no runs on just one hit while striking out five and walking just one batter.
 
Tufts tacked on a run in both the sixth and seventh innings to bring their lead back up to seven to cruise the rest of the way.
 
Whitfield had himself an impressive weekend, going 4-for-7 with three runs scored, three stolen bases, and two RBIs.