Persistent rainfall and soggy fields led to the postponement of the baseball team's scheduled game at Mass Maritime on Wednesday, and the threat of more wet, dreary weather now looms over tomorrow's planned home opener against NESCAC foe Wesleyan University.
Tufts is scheduled to host the Cardinals in a doubleheader tomorrow, which would mark a series of season firsts for the 2004 Jumbos -- first game played in the Northeast, first regular-season game, first home game, and first conference game. However, the April showers (preceded by some late-March ones) are dampening the prospects for this weekend's series.
According to head coach John Casey, the team certainly hopes to see the weather clear up soon.
"If not, we're going to have some oceanfront property soon," Casey joked.
Tomorrow's forecast calls for mid-40 degree weather and a cloud cover, but Saturday is sandwiched between several rainy days on either side, leaving the possibility of a rainout well within the realm of possibility. The weather for Sunday's doubleheader at Wesleyan, in Middletown, Connecticut, is even more unpromising, with rain entrenched solidly in the forecast.
According to Casey, dry weather tomorrow wouldn't rule out a postponement, as field conditions must be taken into consideration.
"It's pretty bad out there," Casey said of Tufts' Huskins Field. "There's nothing we can do until it stops, and then we'll be working on it."
The steady rain has also affected the Jumbos' practice schedule. Yesterday's practice was shifted indoors to the Rocky Carzo Cage, where the team spent the winter and preseason training. Wednesday's rainout gave the squad a day off, and Tuesday, they were fortunate enough to squeeze in an outdoor session between the rain showers.
"At least everyone's in the same boat," Casey said of his team's trials and tribulations with Mother Nature. "It's not like it's just raining here in Medford, so no one else is really playing either."
Casey said that one difficult aspect of the recent weather has been it's effect on the momentum his team carried off their spring break series in the mid-Atlantic, where they posted a .500 record and only narrowly lost several very competitive games.
"We've been playing fairly well... the problem is you stop playing, you lose that rhythm," Casey said.
Rescheduled games later this season could lead to a difficult, tightly-packed schedule as well. Wednesday's rained out game at Mass Maritime has been rescheduled for this Monday, so if the Wesleyan series pulls through tomorrow and Sunday, Tufts' could play six games in four days, as they are also slotted to play Bentley on Tuesday, in Waltham.
"Hopefully our pitching can hold up," Casey said of the busy schedule that further rainouts may cause. "One aspect I was pleased with [over spring break] was our pitching. We were in every game after the first two -- our pitching kept us in every game -- so hopefully they will continue to do that."
If tomorrow and Sunday's series does in fact go on as planned, Tufts stands a good chance of grabbing some wins. In recent years, Tufts has faced Wesleyan at a similar point in the season, and has fared well. In 2003, the Jumbos swept a two-game, early-April series in Middletown, winning 7-4 and 3-2. In the first game, current senior captain Randy Newsom, who will likely lead off the Jumbos' pitching rotation this weekend, picked up the save.
In 2002, the Jumbos and Cardinals faced off in a back-to-back doubleheader format like that scheduled for this year. Tufts went 3-1 in that series.
The Cardinals, currently 5-8-1, played their home opener and kicked off their NESCAC season against Amherst College last weekend. The two teams split Saturday's doubleheader, with Wesleyan, prevailing, 2-0, in the opener, then dropping the second game 6-0. Sunday, Amherst took the rubber game of the series with a close 6-5 win. Earlier this season, Wesleyan played a handful of games on the west coast, including four in the California Classic at Whittier College in Whittier, California and returned with a mixed bag of results.
Casey said a major team goal in the near future is to become more consistent, and also said he hopes to see his younger players continue to mature on the field.
"We're young and we're just looking for some level of consistency," Casey said. "At some time, the youth thing has got to wear off. We've got to stop making mistakes, stop saying it's because we're young. We've just got to get out there and play."
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