When the members of the baseball team received their schedule at the beginning of the season, they likely put an asterisk next to this weekend's series against Trinity.
The opportunity to play three home games at the end of April against a team that prevented Tufts from claiming full reign of the NESCAC East last year should be enough to get the Jumbos' blood flowing.
As it turns out, that asterisk has taken on new meaning: The team's fate rests largely in its performance over the next three games. If it plans to salvage an inconsistent and at times frustrating 2006 season, the team's last chance lies in the three games against the Bantams today and tomorrow.
The Jumbos must win the series in order to reclaim their customary position near the top of the league. At 3-3 right now, the team has positioned itself in the middle of the conference, above struggling Bates and Colby, but below Trinity and first place Bowdoin.
A sweep of the Bantams would even both teams' win totals at six apiece. But three consecutive wins in two days is a daunting task for a Tufts team that dropped all four games against Middlebury over the weekend and all three matchups against the Polar Bears on Apr. 8-9.
"We need to focus on putting our whole game together, with good hitting and pitching," junior catcher Chris Decembrele said. "We've done that in spurts this year. For the most part, we were pretty consistent with pitching at the beginning. I'm very optimistic [for this series]."
Perennial NESCAC East winners and the 2003 and 2005 Div. III World Series champions, Trinity is stocked with 17 returning players from a group that set the school record for wins last year with a 35-9 record. The Jumbos, who looked nothing short of anemic on the offensive end against Bowdoin, will need to be patient against a mature Bantam pitching staff.
"They always have very solid starting pitching," junior tri-captain Bryan McDavitt said. "Our best bet is probably to reach the bullpen where they have younger guys."
Playing with a new lineup for the past week, which features junior Brian Casey as the table-setter and senior Jim O'Leary, freshman Brian McDonough and McDavitt in the heart of the order, the Jumbos hope to build upon their performance of power in Tuesday's matinee against UMass Dartmouth, in which they launched three homeruns and 11 hits en route to a convincing 7-2 victory.
On the other side, the Jumbos have received notable performances for most of the year from a deep staff of seasoned pitchers. Senior Zak Smotherman leads the group with a 1.85 ERA during his six appearances on the mound, followed by junior Derek Rice's 2.10 mark.
"We've been getting solid pitching all year," Decembrele said. "Whether we're up five, six or seven runs, we're confident that our guys will pitch solid baseball, and come out and give us the win. Maybe the Middlebury games made us buckle down [in the field against UMass Dartmouth], which helped our pitchers."
But the Trinity offense, led by sophomore outfielder Matt Stafford and his .435 batting average, will challenge a staff trying to settle itself from the 31 total runs surrendered in the Middlebury series. This statistic may be deceiving, however, as the defense has coughed up nine errors in the last five games, leading to an astronomical 10 unearned runs and pressuring the pitching corps to record extra outs.
"This weekend is huge," McDavitt said. "[The] Trinity [series] is the biggest weekend we have every year. We will certainly come out and be ready to play after three days of hard practice."
