The baseball team may have been battling an offensive slump during their first week of the season, but now they're making up for lost time. In the team's first NESCAC matchup on Friday, sophomore first baseman Bryan McDavitt led the Jumbos offensively as they notched a 10-3 win over the Bates Bobcats. The victory came right on the heels of a dominating 15-2 win over Massachusetts Maritime on Wednesday.
"[Bates] eliminated us for the playoffs [last year]," senior DH Greg Hickey said. "So it was nice to get back at them and beat them pretty good. It was nice to get payback."
Seven of the runs the Jumbos put up on their side of the board can be attributed to McDavitt, who hit two opposite-field home runs, including a grand slam.
The Jumbos jumped ahead to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning. Hickey singled and then advanced to second when senior Jeff Volinski walked. Senior captain Bob Kenny reached first on an error to load the bases, and then sophomore second baseman Brian Casey reached first on a fielder's choice to score Hickey and put the Jumbos ahead.
The Jumbos widened the gap to 4-0 in the third inning, when McDavitt homered to right field to drive in junior Matt Clement and sophomore third baseman Kyle Backstrom.
Sophomore Ben Simon silenced the Bobcat offense with five shutout innings before facing some problems in the sixth. Throughout the game he struck out three, walked one, and allowed no runs until the sixth inning, when the Bobcats narrowed the margin to 4-2. Erik Johanson came in for the seventh inning and allowed one run with a strikeout.
With the Bobcats only one run away from evening the score, McDavitt stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with bases loaded and brought his offensive performance from impressive to unbelievable as he slugged a grand slam to knock in four more runs. The ball left the park at almost the same spot as his first homer.
"The wind was blowing out to the right," McDavitt said. "I tried to stay back and drive the ball hard the other way and it went out."
McDavitt finished the day 2-4 with seven RBI. He leads the team with a .368 batting average in 38 at-bats and has 14 hits, including one double, one triple and two home runs, six walks and 10 RBI total. He leads the team in hits, walks, RBI, and also has a.605 slugging percentage.
"Yes," McDavitt said when asked if the win over Bates was the best offensive game of his career. "It definitely was."
With a safe 8-3 lead, the Jumbos entered the eighth inning with more breathing room. Sophomore Aaron Narva pitched two scoreless innings of relief to post his third save. Narva struck out three and walked none, allowing only one hit in seven at-bats. The Jumbos now have a staff ERA of 3.52, the second-best in the NESCAC, behind only Trinity.
Senior Bobcat Mike Kinsman took the loss for Bates. He allowed eight runs on six hits in 6.2 innings.
"The NESCAC is always really tight," Hickey said. "Teams are only separated by one or two games, so it's important to win every game you can. [The victory over Bates] is definitely an important step."
The Jumbos added two more runs in the eighth off a triple by junior shortstop Greg Chertok and a double by Backstrom. Chertok was 2-4 for the game, and Backstrom, McDavitt and Casey all scored twice. Sophomore Centerfielder Chris Decembrele went 1-4 and Hickey was 1-5.
Kenny went 0-4 for the day, but overall has posted strong numbers for the season so far. He has a .355 BA with 11 hits and three RBIs.
The strong offensive outings in the past two games indicate that the early season slump the hitters seemed to be battling is coming to an end, just in time for the start of NESCAC play. However, the offense still has room for improvement.
"We're still kind of struggling," Hickey said. "If we didn't have McDavitt's home runs, we would have only scored three runs. But we're coming around and hopefully we can continue to get better. Hopefully McDavitt will act as a jump start for us to get better."
"I'd say [that the slump seems to be reaching an end]," McDavitt added. "We've seen the ball more and we're comfortable at the plate. Definitely."
The conference win puts Tufts in first place in the East Division of the NESCAC, tied with Trinity. The Jumbos now stand at a 6-5 record overall, and they'll face the Bobcats again on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. at Huskin's Field.
