As if getting swept in a four-game weekend series isn't painful enough, dropping three of those four games by one run just rubs salt in the wound.
The baseball team did just that this past weekend, as it traveled to Vermont and was swept in doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday by Middlebury in interdivisional NESCAC play. Although the losses to the Panthers do not count toward Tufts' NESCAC East record, the team has now lost seven of its last eight games, all seven to conference competition. The Jumbos fell to 12-11 overall and remained at 3-3 in NESCAC East play.
While the weekend's losses were hard to swallow, the team is trying to stay out of the "slumping" mentality by approaching each game one at a time.
"We try to go out there and we play to win - we're not playing to not lose," said junior shortstop Brian Casey, who went 6-for-17 with three runs scored and three RBI on the weekend. "And we know there are situations where you know it's going to be a tough game, but you play every game and you try to approach it the same way."
Additionally, although the Jumbos did not return to Medford with a win, Casey and others were able to get the bats going, as senior Jim O'Leary and junior Chris Decembrele both turned in solid weekends at the plate.
"I think we played pretty well and had good spurts during games, and we looked like we were going to pull out each game," said O'Leary, who was 6-for-13 with four runs scored and three RBI. "At the same time, [Middlebury] made some plays when they needed to."
With two Friday losses in its rearview mirror, Tufts was ahead late in both contests on Saturday only to succumb to the Panthers' walk-off hits in each contest.
Middlebury jumped out early in the nightcap, getting four runs off Tufts sophomore starter Adam Telian in the bottom of the first. After trading runs in the second frame, the Jumbos got four of their own in the top of the third, evening the score at five.
Tufts finally got ahead in the top of the fifth, scoring two runs to take a 7-5 lead. A two-out rally sparked by Casey's single, O'Leary getting hit by a pitch, and a wild pitch set up Decembrele's two-RBI go-ahead hit.
The Panthers didn't stay down in their half of the fifth, however, as they scored two of their own off Telian to tie the game at seven. Telian went the distance in the nightcap, likely because the Tufts bullpen was depleted after the weekend's games, and picked up the loss, leveling his record at 2-2.
Tufts put runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings, but the score stayed tied 7-7 until the bottom of the seventh inning. Middlebury catcher Andrew Pavoni led off the inning with a double, setting up Joe Ramoin three batters later, who drove Pavoni in with a walkoff base hit, giving Middlebury the series sweep with an 8-7 win.
Saturday's first game was, if possible, even more painful.
After Tufts senior starter Zak Smotherman gave up two in the first inning, the Jumbos charged ahead with five runs in a two-out burst in the top of the second. The big play was a two-RBI double by O'Leary, with freshman Kevin Casey, Brian Casey, and freshman Brian McDonough all contributing RBI singles.
Tufts got runs in the fourth and fifth innings off hits by junior Kyle Backstrom and O'Leary, then traded runs with Middlebury in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, giving the Jumbos an 8-3 advantage heading into the final half-inning.
Sophomore Jason Protano entered with the five-run cushion in the top of the seventh, giving up a single before coercing a groundout for the first two outs. A walk and a hit-batsman loaded the bases for Middlebury with two outs.
An error by third baseman Kevin Casey on the next batter extended the game and proved costly, allowing Ramoin to reach and a run to score. Senior Noah Walker singled in a run, bringing senior reliever Erik Johanson in the game for Tufts. The first batter he faced, left fielder Ryan Armstrong, had another RBI single, making the score 8-6. The next batter, John Lanahan, tied the game on a two-RBI single, before Johanson could force a groundout to send the game to extra innings.
Junior designated hitter Nick Curato gave Tufts a 9-8 lead with an RBI double in the top of the eighth, but it was not enough. In what would be his first of two walk-off hits of the day, Ramoin doubled in the tying and winning runs, stealing a 10-9 result for the Panthers.
Brian Casey succinctly summed up what his team needs to improve upon.
"[We need to play] from the first pitch until the last pitch," the junior shortstop said. "We've had some letdowns on offense, defense, and pitching, and that's something that we need to correct."
In Friday's nightcap, Middlebury had a 4-1 lead through six innings but allowed Tufts to cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the seventh. The Panthers plated three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth off Tufts junior reliever Carlos Lopez and shut the Jumbos down in the ninth for the 7-3 win. Junior hurler Derek Rice picked up the loss for Tufts, moving to 2-2.
Friday's opener was uneventful by Saturday's standards.
Middlebury scored six runs in four innings off Tufts starter Ben Simon, whose record fell to 3-2 with the loss. A combination of lights-out relief from Johanson and resilient offense got Tufts to within one run at 6-5, but the Jumbos could not get the tying run past first base in the seventh, giving the Panthers the victory.
The Jumbos, who are ranked ninth nationally, will certainly take a tumble when the next poll comes out. More importantly, with seven losses in its last eight games, Tufts is in serious need of momentum. It will hope to begin the road to recovery this afternoon at UMass-Dartmouth before hosting Trinity in a vital three-game NESCAC East tilt this weekend.
"This is [Trinity's] last NESCAC East series, and we need to go in there and get a couple wins and hopefully set ourselves up for a playoff run," Brian Casey said.
