The Tufts baseball team went 4-5 over spring break. When the Jumbos won, they did it in style - completely shutting out their opponents. All four wins were shutouts, a remarkable feat for a season, let alone a single week.
The Jumbos faced nine non-conference teams as they traveled around the South, enduring a rigorous schedule that included games every day. Despite finishing the trip under .500, the team is pleased with its results, especially the pitching.
The four shutouts are a testament to the strength of the Jumbos' pitching. Starters, relievers and closers all rose to the call of duty and produced strong results in those games, establishing the pitching as the most solid part of Tufts' game as of now.
"Our team has been pitching really well," junior left-handed reliever Eric Johanson said. "All four of our wins have been shutouts, so we really feel pretty good about it."
Sophomore right-hander Ben Simon quickly established himself as an ace for the Jumbos, earning two of the Jumbos' four shutout wins. He pitched over 17 innings during the break, and held his opponents to two runs on 23 hits, striking out 10 and walking five.
Sophomore Derek Rice, a transfer from Div. II Rollins College, was anticipated to be a key addition to the pitching staff this year, and so far he has also produced results. In the second game of the season, Rice pitched seven innings, striking out eight, and allowing only four hits for a shutout victory. He was less successful in his second outing, however, when he gave up nine hits and six runs in five innings.
Junior lefty Zak Smotherman is 0-1 in two appearances. He's surrendered seven runs, including one unearned, but he leads the Jumbos with 11 strikeouts.
Maintaining the leads built by the starters, sophomore Aaron Narva has established himself as an effective closer, pitching five scoreless innings in five appearances and giving up only three hits along the way.
According to Johanson, the pitching staff has developed distinguished roles. He is generally the first reliever in, and he's been followed by senior right-hander Davis and then Narva, a recipe that has been successful so far. Johanson has held his opponents to one run in four solid innings of relief.
"This is the first time in the three years I've been in the program that I feel like we have set, defined roles on the pitching staff," Johanson said. "And we all feel pretty comfortable with our roles right now."
This past Saturday, the Jumbos split a doubleheader at Apprentice, with Davis taking the night win with six shutout innings. Simon started the day game and gave up his first runs of the season, but Johanson picked up the loss.
The pitchers attribute their early season success in part to the defense's reliability.
"Our defense is one of the best, probably the best in the NESCAC," Johanson said. "It's the best I've seen, and our middle infield is phenomenal. Our outfield has been great; we have had a number of diving catches for saved runs. It definitely influences the game, the way that we pitch."
With the defense and pitching playing strong, the team is still waiting for the offense to come through.
"Offensively, we haven't been producing," said sophomore Kyle Backstrom, who plays third base and shortstop. "We're not getting on base; we're not putting a string of hits together. We haven't gotten any kind of momentum on the offensive end."
In nine games, the team has averaged a mere 2.1 runs per game. That statistic does not include yesterday's game against Virginia Wesleyan, the results of which were too late to include in this edition.
"[The pitching we've seen] is average, nothing that we shouldn't be able to handle," Backstrom said. "We're pressing too hard, instead of just going up there and playing."
Backstrom has been one of the leaders for the team offensively so far. In 31 plate appearances, the righty has collected seven hits, including the team's lone home run, two doubles and six RBI.
Senior captain Bob Kenny has also been strong, with a team-leading .391 BA in 23 at-bats, nine hits (two doubles), and two RBI. Sophomore Bryan McDavitt and senior Greg Hickey each have nine hits and two RBI.
Sophomore Chris Decembrele has posted six hits, but has also struck out 11 times in 30 plate appearances and is hitting only .200, compared to .298 last year.
Both Johanson and Backstrom attribute the lack of offensive results to beginning-of-the-season slumps that the hitters are likely to shake off.
"When it comes to the point where the pitchers start to struggle, we have hitters in our lineup that will produce and will pick our pitchers up," Johanson said. "Coming into the season, we were comfortable with our ability to hit with anyone, and that hasn't changed. A bunch of guys have been going through slumps, and when they come out, they're going to be scary. They're going to be on fire. And that's encouraging."
