The Tufts baseball team entered this weekend's series against NESCAC East opponent Colby with a spot in the NESCAC Tournament at stake. Colby entered the series with a slightly different goal - winning its first game of the season.
Overmatched by the Jumbos, the Mules were unable to add a win to their record, instead recording three more losses as Tufts secured its berth in the playoffs with 10-6, 22-0, and 10-8 wins.
Despite what the final results may indicate, the Jumbos did not breeze by the Mules.
"I think we had in our heads that we might be cruising through the weekend and that wasn't the case," senior captain Bob Kenny said. "We went out Friday and came out kind of flat, but still got the win. Saturday we knew we had to come out early and put them away, and we did in the first game. In the third game, they jumped [out to an early lead] but we fought hard and got the win in the ninth."
In the third and final game of the series, Colby (0-26, 0-11 in NESCAC) had a chance to pull off a win and prevent the Jumbos (20-8, 9-2 in NESCAC) from sweeping. Heading into the ninth inning with a tight 8-7 lead, the Mules were only three outs away from their first victory of the season. However, two walks, two batters hit by pitches, and an error cost Colby three unearned runs in a hitless ninth inning for the Jumbos as Tufts walked away with the 10-8 win.
Colby's Tyler Hales had three hits, including a home run and a triple, and Andy Carr and Steve Sandak had two hits apiece, but their offensive contributions were not enough to prevent a Jumbo comeback.
Junior Zak Smotherman started the game for the Jumbos, but it was sophomore Aaron Narva who earned the win, moving to a perfect 3-0. Sophomore second baseman Brian Casey led the Jumbos offensively with two hits and three runs.
"We tried to stay up and we kind of played down to their level of baseball," Kenny said. "The goal of the weekend was to not do that, so we have some things to work on."
"We played well enough to beat this team, but it wasn't good enough to win the NESCAC Tournament," freshman Adam Telian added. "But we'll be fine as long as we keep hitting the ball and pitching as well as we are."
In the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, two explosive innings propelled the Jumbos to a blowout 22-0 victory over the Mules. Tufts scored seven runs in the first inning and tacked on another 12 in the seventh for good measure. Junior Jim O'Leary and sophomore Kyle Backstrom each had home runs, and junior shortstop Greg Chertok led the Jumbos with four hits and three runs.
The series opened on Friday night with a berth in the NESCAC Tournament at stake, and the Jumbos did not disappoint in a 10-6 win. With the win, and Bates' 14-inning 3-1 loss to Bowdoin on Friday, Tufts secured a playoff spot.
Senior starter Ben Simon went 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out one. Simon was relieved by Telian, who earned the win, pitching three innings and allowing one earned run.
"I didn't even realize I got the win until the next day," Telian said. "After I found out, I was pretty pumped that I got the win that sent us into the playoffs."
Narva came in the game for Telian, breaking the Tufts school record with his 17th pitching appearance of the season. Junior Jeremy Davis got the final out of the game to earn his first save of the season.
Sophomore first baseman Bryan McDavitt had three hits for the Jumbos. Kenny had two hits and three RBIs, and Backstrom had two hits and batted in two. O'Leary homered, racking up another three RBIs.
In the third game of the series, Colby took an early lead in the first inning when Hales tripled and sophomore Andy Carr hit a sacrifice fly to score two. The Jumbos trailed until the fourth inning, when a two-run single by Kenny tied the game. Tufts added four more in the fifth inning and O'Leary's homer in the eighth inning widened the gap, before the Mules cut it to 7-4 in the eighth.
Tufts scored three more in the ninth on a two-run double from O'Leary and an RBI double from Kenny to make it 10-4 and Colby was only able to get two in the bottom of the inning. The Mules had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate when Davis took the mound and recorded the final out.
The Jumbos will play non-league opponent Eastern Connecticut at home on Tuesday before heading to Bates on Thursday to play their last NESCAC East game of the regular season.
"[Our goal is to] just to win and get momentum going into the NESCAC tournament," Kenny said. "We have four games and we want to keep the winning streak going and get ready for the playoffs."
