The baseball team hosts a three-game series this weekend with Trinity, a trio of games that will go a long way in determining who wins the NESCAC East Division. The Bantams are currently in second place in the division, sporting a 7-2 record, while Tufts is perfect in the NESCAC East at 5-0.
"We're looking forward to this weekend," junior shortstop Brian Shapiro said. "We beat them pretty good last year, so they'll come to play."
With Colby third in the division at 3-3, the race should come down to Trinity and Tufts, which makes this weekend's set of premium importance.
What should make this weekend's games even more exciting are the similarities between the two squads. Both teams feature balanced lineups and strong pitching. And with pressure games coming up, the pitching should come to the forefront.
"Pitching is so important," Shapiro said. "And both teams are strong. The games are going to be low scoring, and whoever does the little things should win."
Both teams will likely start their top three pitchers, which means runs will be scarce. Junior pitcher Dave Martin is the favorite to get the ball in Friday afternoon's game. He's 4-0 on the year with a 0.47 ERA, the best on the team in both categories. Following Martin will likely be junior Jon Lee, who sports a 3-1 record and senior Steve Lapham. The senior began the season strong, but has had trouble retiring batters on two-strike counts of late, and it has gotten him in trouble.
The Tufts pitchers will have to keep the Bantams off the base paths, especially when second baseman Kurt Piantek's up. The junior is batting .400 on the year with seven home runs and 41 RBI. In fact, Trinity sports a number of starters with lofty batting averages, including freshman catcher Andrew Fries, who's hitting at a .458 clip with two home runs and 16 RBI on the year.
In addition, senior leadoff hitter Greg Spanos is hitting .362, junior third baseman Jayme Dorr goes at .338, junior DH Robert Dolliver is hitting .323, while senior shortstop Andrew Freimuth is batting .329. These six make up a dangerous first two thirds of the batting order, and the Tufts pitchers must work carefully to keep the runs down.
Last year, Tufts was able to do that. Lee held the Bantams scoreless in the first game of the series, and Lapham and Martin each enjoyed similar success. It was a different story last year for Trinity's pitchers, who struggled mightily.
Junior Jonah Bayless got the start in the first game, and gave up seven runs in five innings before getting pulled. When all was said and done, the Jumbos had done a number on Trinity to the tune of 22-0. Tufts won the next game 5-0 before finishing the sweep 19-2. In that last game, then freshman Kevin Tidmarsh saw two innings of work and conceded two runs.
This year, Bayless (4-1, 3.09 ERA) and Tidmarsh (4-1, 2.41) will get second chances at the Jumbo hitters, and they will be fired up to prove themselves.
"We had success against them last year," Shapiro said. "But they throw the ball hard, and they are going to come down here ready to play."
Just like the Tufts pitchers, Bayless, Tidmarsh and either Spanos (4-1, 4.24) or freshman Mark Tremblay (2-0, 3.00) will have their work cut out for them against a lineup full of intimidating batting averages.
Junior center fielder Evan Zupancic is coming off co-NESCAC Player of the Week honors, and is hitting at a .386 clip in the leadoff spot. He also leads the team with eight stolen bases in eleven attempts. The lineup gets even more dangerous after Zupancic, as senior Dan Callahan (.373, 2 home runs, 18 RBI) bats third, Shapiro (.357, 5, 22) hits fourth, and senior first baseman Tim Ayers (.329, 1, 17) hits fifth.
The 3-4-5 guys have plenty of support, as sophomore Adam Kacamburas is hitting .386 on the year, and sophomore catcher Greg Hickey is hitting .375.
While the statistics may be impressive on both sides, the players know they don't mean much once the games start. Both teams are coming off non-conference, midweek losses - the Jumbos lost 8-1 to Brandeis while Trinity lost 9-1 at East Connecticut - so momentum is there for the taking.
"In the Brandeis game, we got away from the things we do," Shapiro said. "It would be nice to win this weekend and separate ourselves from the other teams in the league. We could get home field advantage in the playoffs. It's an important weekend."
The series starts on Friday at 3 p.m., and continues on Saturday with a double header beginning at noon.
