The baseball team got its fifth consecutive win under its belt yesterday, defeating Bentley College 12-3 and boosting its record to 8-5 on the season. The Jumbos came out strong at the plate early in the game, posting five runs by the end of the third inning and 10 runs by the sixth. The Falcons never led. The win marks the fourth consecutive game in which the Jumbos have scored 10 or more runs, for a total of 47 runs in the last four games.
The Jumbos got key hits early from senior Greg Hickey, juniors Jim O'Leary and Greg Chertok and sophomore Chris Decembrele. Hickey went 2-3 with two runs, while Decembrele went 2-4, also recording two runs. Decembrele blasted a deep fly-ball off the wall in center field for a triple and scored two runs in the third inning. Sophomore Brian Casey also had a big day at the plate, going 3-5 and scoring a run.
Decembrele attributed the recent surge in runs to a total team effort.
"When we put up a run, and [our pitchers] put up shutout innings, everyone gets motivated to get big hits," Decembrele said. "We had a lot of guys come through big for us today."
Brian Casey commented on the team's mixture of good pitching and good hitting, marked by poise and control in the batter's box,
"All of us are staying composed at the plate," Casey said. "We're not worrying where players are on the field. We've also had phenomenal pitching that has carried us late in the game."
The Jumbos' pitching and defense answered in key situations to stop any attacks from Bentley and tip the momentum scales securely in Tufts' favor. The solid pitching performance was backed up by tight defensive play, with several critical defensive stops in the field from Chertok and Casey at shortstop and second base respectively.
"Casey has been one of our best defensive infielders along with Chertok," coach John Casey said. "It's good to see guys at the bottom of the order come up big for us, and hit well. It shows that all of our guys can hit."
Bentley came out in the bottom of the fifth inning with a base clearing three-run triple to right field from junior third basemen Chad Mastin, bringing the Falcons within two at 5-3. Tufts answered to the Bentley surge with its own rally in the bottom of the inning, posting six runs and five hits.
O'Leary, Chertok, and sophomore Kyle Backstrom led the drive, knocking in five runs between them. Backstrom who went 2-5 with two runs, hit a three-run double into the gap that put the Jumbos up 10-3. Along with O'Leary and Decembrele, Backstrom finished the day with three RBIs. The Jumbos capped off the win with another run in the seventh inning off an O'Leary RBI, the team's 17th hit of the day.
Junior Zak Smotherman started the game for Tufts on the mound, and was credited with the win, evening his record at 1-1. Smotherman went five innings, and although his pitch count went relatively high - around 80 pitches - he was able to last long enough to allow the Jumbos' relief pitchers to come in and finish the game. The Jumbos got strong relief from senior Jeremy Davis, junior Erik Johanson, sophomore Aaron Narva and freshman Adam Telian. The four relief pitchers allowed no hits in four innings of play.
"Our pitching has been consistent from day one," Casey said. "Our starters know they can go hard and know that our bullpen will pick them up if they need it. Our relief bridged the gap and finished off for us."
The Jumbos will look to continue their winning streak when they face Wesleyan in a four-game, seven-inning series this weekend in league action. Tufts will travel to Wesleyan for the first half of the series on Saturday, and then play the Cardinals at home for a rematch doubleheader on Sunday.
"Playing four short games like that will be tough for us," Casey said. "[Wesleyan] has always been a tough team. The games are always close and really good games."
