The baseball team left no doubt in disbelievers' minds about who was the best team in the NESCAC East after sweeping Colby 9-3, 6-1, and 6-4. The three victories boosted the Jumbos to a 10-1 NESCAC record, earning the team home field advantage for the NESCAC Tournament (May 10-11).
"It's our goal to be the best team in the league," senior tri-captain Dan Callahan said.
"At the same time, the teams we beat in the regular season, like Trinity and Wesleyan, are out to beat us in the playoffs."
The theme for Saturday's games was pitching. Sophomore Randy Newsom and junior Jon Lee both tossed complete games en route to earning their fourth victory apiece. After giving up one run in the top of the third inning, Newsom settled down and did not allow another White Mule to cross the plate until the ninth inning. Newsom only allowed six hits throughout the entire game.
"I felt good," Newsom said about starting on Saturday. "It was nice because the defense made some good plays right away."
Although Lee pitched in the shorter of the two games on Saturday, he still displayed the command of the game that earned him NESCAC pitcher of the year last season. Lee was spotted three runs by his offense in the first inning, making his job that much easier. After surrendering one run in the top of the second, Lee cruised, retiring 15 batters in a row. He quietly put together a masterful game, only allowing three hits.
In game two, junior tri-captain Evan Zupancic was once again a star in the clutch, hitting a three-run homerun in the bottom of the third to push the Jumbo lead to 3-0. Sophomore catcher Greg Hickey helped out his pitcher in the bottom of the fifth, by being an intricate part of the three run fifth inning. Hickey hit a single, Callahan and senior first baseman Tim Ayres.
Ayres did not only score a run, he also knocked in two on two hits. Zupancic also had two hits with four runs batted in. The final score was 9-3.
In game one, the Jumbos scored in four of six innings batted in. The team wasted no time to get runs for Jon Lee. Junior shortstop Brian Shapiro and Hickey both had RBI singles. Shapiro also grabbed another RBI in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly. Ayres added an insurance run with an RBI single in the fourth. Junior Jon Herbert and Callahan each had three hits and crossed the plate two times each.
In Friday's game, junior pitcher Dave Martin had another great performance as he went six innings, giving up six hits and one earned run. With a 6-4 victory, he upped his record to 5-1. Shapiro came in and pitched the final three innings, giving up one hit and striking out three, picking up the save.
"I didn't hit the ball well at all this weekend, so it was good to contribute to the team as a pitcher," Shapiro said.
Zupancic, Callahan, and sophomore third baseman Adam Kacamburas had multiple hit games. Zupancic scored twice and knocked in one. Callahan bombed a three-run homer in the bottom of the second. With those three RBI, Callahan broke the record for career RBI. His 118th RBI of his career broke the mark of 115 (Bill Cannon 1987-90).
"Obviously it's pretty special whenever you break a record. I'm happy to have them; you get your name in the record book," Callahan said. "It's nice to hold any of the records I got for a while. I played with (Dan) Morse (1996-99), and coach talks a lot about the other players, so it's nice to be in the same category as some of those guys".
In the top of the seventh, Colby worked its way back into the game and closed the lead to 5-4. That was as far as the White Mules got to win the game. In the bottom of the seventh, Callahan led off with a bunt single. Callahan scored when Ayres crushed a double, pushing the lead to 6-4.
Today, the Jumbos travel to Bates for their final league game. This will be the team's third game against the Bobcats. Tufts won the first two 7-2 and 6-5 (10 inn.). Even with home field advantage wrapped up, the team is still not looking past its last three opponents.
"We still have one more league game and then a big game against Eastern Conn. and two against Babson," Newsom said. "We need to look at each game, get better with each game. We can't look ahead until we are done with our regular season. It's good to know that it will be here, but we still have to play good baseball until then. That starts tomorrow against Bates."
