The men's baseball team unleashed the perfect storm on the Buccaneers of Massachusetts Maritime Academy with a 17-3 victory yesterday afternoon. Sophomore Dave Martin pitched eight innings of no hit ball, giving up only one run on a walk, a hit batsman, and two sacrifices in the second inning of the game.
Freshman Randy Newsom pitched the 9th inning for the Jumbos, giving up the only Buccaneer hit of the game, a double by junior shortstop John Muldoon.
It was a good game for the Jumbos at the plate as well as on the mound. Sophomore shortstop Brian Shapiro knocked in seven runs on two doubles and 4-6 hitting, and Dan Callahan added four hits and four RBIs of his own. In the eighth inning, freshman catcher Greg Hickey hit a solo home run, the first of his college career.
Tufts jumped right on the Buccaneers in the first when Shapiro's single plated two runs. The lead became 4-1 in the third inning, an inning in which the Jumbos stole four bases. One of those stolen bases was a theft of home by sophomore second baseman John Herbert. The Jumbos got four more runs off of the Mass. Maritime starter, sophomore Bob Buker, but the offensive fireworks really began when the Bucs went to their bullpen. Sophomores George Scharrenweber and Ryan Meehan and junior Joe DeMelin gave up nine more runs during the final two innings.
Overall, the Jumbos pounded out 20 hits, including five doubles.
It was the third win in a row for Tufts, which moved its overall record to 5-5-1. The Jumbos have a busy weekend ahead with four games against Wesleyan. On Saturday, Tufts will play the Cardinals in a home doubleheader before traveling to Middletown, CT to play two more games against Wesleyan.
Mass Maritime was heading the opposite direction as the Jumbos entering this game. The Buccanneers were swept by Fitchburg State in a doubleheader on Saturday and the loss to Tufts drops its overall record to 3-6 heading into a game against Mass. Pharmacy.
