If the baseball team was fatigued from its 11-game road trip, it didn't show on Wednesday afternoon.
The Jumbos stomped all over Massachusetts Maritime, pounding out 26 hits en route to a 20-0 thrashing of the Buccaneers, improving to 8-4 on the season, while knocking Mass. Maritime to 5-3.
Tufts wasted no time adjusting to the unfamiliar terrain, scoring five quick runs in the first inning. After senior tri-captain Greg Chertok grounded out to third base to open the game, junior Brian Casey walked and reached second on a wild pitch, sparking the Tufts offense. The Jumbos connected with five hits and sent 11 men to the plate. The five runs could easily have been more, as Casey struck out swinging his second time at the plate, leaving the bases loaded at the conclusion of the inning.
With a five run cushion before he even strode to the mound, starting pitcher junior Derek Rice had little problem shutting down the Buccaneer bats. Despite allowing the lead runner to reach base in all three of his innings, Rice prevented the Bucs from advancing past second base, thwarting any plan for an early comeback.
"We came out and played well," said junior tri-captain Bryan McDavitt, who recorded two hits in three at-bats. "We got our hits and there was no let-up. Our pitchers had extra confidence when we got the lead to start off the game."
More offensive fireworks followed the Jumbos' initial streak. Tufts recorded a run in the second and two in the third, highlighted by a solo shot by Jim O'Leary, who finished 4-4 in the game with three runs and four RBI.
"[Mass. Maritime was] not a bad team," said junior Kyle Backstrom, who went 3-for-3 in the game, with three runs and three RBI. "We just had a lot of hits. Their pitching was not as good as what we saw down South; they had a couple of errors in the field, and we ultimately overmatched them."
Refusing to back down, Tufts posted a nine-spot on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. By then, coach John Casey's team was terrorizing its third hurler of the day, after Bucs starting pitcher junior Ryan Conley went to the bench after just one inning. Relief pitcher junior Ryan Dooley did not fare much better; the Jumbos disposed of him after six outs on the mound. Maritime coach Bob Corradi wore a path from the dugout to the mound as he used a combination of seven pitchers to complete the nine painful innings.
"The pitchers we faced [on Wednesday] didn't really have good second pitches," McDavitt said. "We saw mostly fastballs, some change-ups, but we didn't see many curves."
In spite of the lopsided margin of victory, Tufts kept its focus throughout the game, refusing to allow a Buc to cross the plate and playing errorless defense.
"Although we scored five runs in the first, we tried to have the same type of at-bat no matter what," Backstrom said. "We have to play the same way regardless [of the score]. Coach Casey told us to work on things when we stepped into box, like taking the ball the other way. Pitchers focused on throwing strikes, and getting ahead in counts. This was good practice for us."
A comfortable lead was just what the Jumbos needed. After returning from their grueling road trip on Monday, the players had little time to rest before gearing up for this matchup. The early offense and solid pitching performance permitted the coaching staff to rest many of the regulars in preparation for the NESCAC games against Bates today and Saturday.
Rice threw three innings, and handed the game off with an eight-run lead to a crew of five other Jumbos, who finished out the last six innings. They yielded just three total hits.
After playing 12 non-conference games, the team will launch into league schedule this weekend against a Bates with a little less on-field experience this year, only amassing a record of 4-3. Still, each NESCAC game will play a large role in determining the outcome of the season for the baseball team.
"All of our games have prepared us pretty well," Backstrom said. "There will be more intensity for the NESCAC games, though. These games mean more than the game we played [Wednesday] or the first 11 games before that. They are like playoff games."
