In desperate need of wins after dropping its first three NESCACgames of the season to Trinity a week ago, the Tufts baseball team(12-10) came out swinging Friday afternoon to begin a three-gameseries against the NESCAC East-leading Bowdoin Polar Bears (16-9)in Brunswick, Maine.
The Jumbos came out on top -- improving their conference recordto 2-4 by two games -- with a 12-3 blowout victory Friday, followedby a doubleheader split on Saturday featuring a 5-2 loss and an11-inning, 7-6 triumph in the rubber game.
Bowdoin (6-3 NESCAC) fell to second in the East. Tufts sitsfourth.
"The two wins got us back on track," freshman center fielderChris Decembrele said. "Having to play Bowdoin, who beat Trinity acouple times before, we needed to beat them."
Saturday's doubleheader opener started as a sophomore pitchingduel between lefty Zak Smotherman (5.2 IP, 5H, 4R) and Bowdoin'sRicky Leclerc (5.2 IP, 3H, 2R, 7BB), with the game tied at twothrough five innings.
Tufts took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, but couldn't capitalize onnine walks during the game by Bowdoin, including four to seniorco-captain Adam Kacamburas.
Bowdoin tied the game in the fourth on a leadoff homer by firstbaseman Tom McMahon, his fourth of the year, then took the lead forgood in the sixth. McMahon drew a leadoff walk from Smothermanbefore the southpaw set down the next two batters. But he plunkedthe next Bowdoin hitter and was yanked for freshman Ben Simon, whoentered to face pinch hitter Andrew Workman.
It was new pitcher, new hitter, new ballgame, as Workman greetedSimon with a three-run bomb to left to cap the scoring.
"I came into a pretty big situation," Simon said. "It was justone of those times when I made a mistake and the kid took advantageof it."
Saturday's nightcap was a freshman affair, with 1B BryanMcDavitt (3-6, two runs), Decembrele (2-6, 2R), DH John Rothermel(3-5, 2 RBI) and 2B Kyle Backstrom combining for five runs and nineof Tufts' 12 hits.
"The freshman class is doing really well," Decembrele said."We're still making a lot of mistakes out there, but we're tryingto come into our own, get used to the pitching, get used tohitting."
The lead changed several times during the game. Tufts got on theboard first on a Decembrele second inning leadoff homer, his secondof the year. Chertok was then hit by a pitch from Bowdoin starterMark Bulger and stole second, took third on a wild pitch and cameround to score on a Rothermel single.
Right fielder Leclerc, the game one starter, homered for Bowdoinin the home half off Jumbo junior Jeremy Davis (6 IP, 9H, 6R, 3K),and the Polar Bears added two more runs in the fifth to move ahead,3-2.
But Chertok reached base again, this time on a single, swipedsecond, moved to third on an error and scored again on Rothermel'ssecond RBI base hit of the game.
Bowdoin scored three more in the sixth, including two onMcMahon's second homer of the day, but Tufts tied it again in theseventh. The Jumbos loaded the bases, with the rookie trio ofMcDavitt, Backstrom and Decembrele reaching on a fielder's choice,a walk and an error. Two hit batters sandwiched around a Chertoksingle drove in three runs to lock it up again.
Davis was lifted after the sixth and the Tufts bullpen kept theteam in the game until the 11th. Senior Dave Frew (two innings, onehit) and Simon (3 IP) followed with five shutout innings of work,allowing just one hit.
McDavitt singled to lead off the 11th, eventually scoring thedecisive run on an error by Bowdoin shortstop Kevin Bougie on aball hit by Decembrele, before Simon shut down the Polar Bears topick up the win and redeem himself after the game one loss.
"Bowdoin is a good team," Simon said. "We just kept the balldown and stayed ahead of the hitters."
Friday afternoon saw senior co-captain Randy Newsom (4-1, 4.29ERA) go the distance, giving up three runs on eight hits to goalong a walk and nine strikeouts in nine innings of work.
"Randy pitched a great game, and Davis and Smotherman pitchedreally well on Saturday," Decembrele said. "They really kept us init."
The Tufts offense got things going early, beating up on Bowdoinstarter Trevor Powers (3-2, 5.48 ERA) for ten runs -- nine earned-- on ten hits in just four innings. Every Jumbo reached base atleast once, with Clement (two walks) the only player to not recorda hit.
Tufts scored four runs in the third on four hits, led by Casey'sleadoff double and RBI singles by McDavitt and Decembrele.
The Jumbos broke the game open in the fifth, sending 11 battersto the plate and scoring six runs to take an 11-0 lead before theBowdoin bullpen kept Tufts in check for the remainder of thegame.
Tufts heads to UMass-Dartmouth for a non-conference game today,looking to keep the momentum going heading into this weekend'sthree-game series against divisional rival Colby (3-20, 0-9NESCAC), who are yet to pick up a league win.
"It's tough to look so far head, we just wanted to go up [toBowdoin] and play well," Simon said. "We just wanted to have solidperformances in all three games. It was good to get some momentumback."
