After falling from ninth in the country all the way out of the nation's top 30, Tufts baseball finally looked like one of the best teams in Div. III, sweeping Trinity in a three-game series this past weekend and improving its record to 16-11 overall and 6-3 in the NESCAC East.
The Jumbos needed to take at least two out of three games from the Bantams to keep their playoff hopes alive, and with their backs against the wall, they responded. Tufts outscored Trinity 27-13 to win all three contests and clinch a spot in the NESCAC Tournament.
The Jumbos came from behind in each game and finally saw their pitching and hitting come together at once against the Bantams, who finished their NESCAC East play at 6-6.
"In all three of the games we were down at first and didn't give up," Chertok said. "Earlier in the year we succumbed to a lead, but this weekend we fought back."
In an early-season schedule heavy on road games, this weekend marked Tufts' first home NESCAC East series and only its second, third, and fourth home games this season.
"I think finally being home after three weekends away helped us get in the groove," said sophomore left-hander Adam Telian, the winning pitcher in Saturday's first game. "We knew we were better than the way we were playing, and we weren't going to let our season go to waste because of a couple losses."
Having already won the first two games against Trinity, the Jumbos got off to a rough start in Saturday's nightcap.
Tufts junior starter Ben Simon failed to get out of the first inning, yielding four runs on six hits in two-thirds of an inning of work. Junior right-handed reliever Carlos Lopez kept the Jumbos in the game and the team clawed back, putting up 12 runs and turning an early 4-0 deficit into a 12-5 blowout. Lopez (3-0) went six-and-a-third scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and two walks while striking out six for the win. Senior Erik Johanson and sophomore Jason Protano combined to finish out the game.
Junior centerfielder Chris Decembrele was among the team's offensive leaders, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI, both coming on a fifth-inning two- run shot, his second of the series. Senior tri-captain Greg Chertok, batting leadoff and playing shortstop, was 3-for-5 with one run scored and two RBI in the contest. He went 8-for-13 with four runs scored and three RBI on the weekend.
Tufts also fell behind early in Saturday's opener before coming back to win.
Trinity scored twice in the first inning off of Jumbo junior right-hander Derek Rice. Although he survived the first inning, he was lifted after walking two batters in the second. Telian picked up his third win of the season, working five-and-two-thirds innings of one-hit, shutout relief.
"I don't think I did anything differently," Telian said. "I knew what was on the line for the rest of our season, and I just focused on making my pitches."
The Jumbos evened the score in the bottom of the first with two runs on back-to-back RBI hits from junior tri-captain Bryan McDavitt and freshman Brian McDonough.
The game remained even at two apiece until the bottom of the fourth, when the Jumbos exploded for six runs on a two-RBI single by junior Brian Casey, an RBI single by junior Jim O'Leary, and a two-RBI double by junior Kyle Backstrom to bring the score to 8-2.
O'Leary and Backstrom, who had key hits in Saturday's opener, were among the offensive leaders for Tufts on the weekend. O'Leary was 7-for-13 at the plate with five RBI while Backstrom knocked in three runs of his own, going 6-for-12 at the dish.
This weekend marked the first time the team's arms and bats were working in concert in a couple of weeks.
"At Bowdoin our pitching was there and our hitting wasn't, and at Middlebury the pitching was there but the hitting wasn't," Telian said. "It was just a matter of time for it to all come together."
While it was the bats that waged the comebacks, it was the bullpen that made it possible.
"Coming out of the bullpen we had guys throwing [16 innings of one-run relief]," Chertok said. "Without them keeping us in games we wouldn't have had a chance."
The turning point in the series, and perhaps Tufts' season, came in Friday's opener. Like both of Saturday's contests, the Jumbos had to play catch-up as the Bantams mounted a 6-1 lead through four and a half. All six runs came off Tufts senior lefty Zak Smotherman, but only four were earned. Smotherman went seven innings in the contest, yielding nine hits and two walks while picking up six strikeouts to earn the no-decision.
Tufts started its comeback from a five-run deficit in the bottom of the fifth. After being hit by a pitch, Chertok scored from first on O'Leary's two-out double to cut the score to 6-2.
The Jumbos mounted another two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth to chase Trinity starter sophomore Chandler Barnard from the game. After freshman Brian McDonough singled to open the inning, it remained uneventful until Decembrele homered to bring the Jumbos within two.
It was not until the eighth inning that Tufts finally drew even. Sophomore Steve Ragonese walked to open the inning and scored on junior tri-captain Bryan McDavitt's single to right. Backstrom wasted no time, singling to bring in McDavitt on the game's tying run.
O'Leary again delivered with a walk-off single in the eighth. Chertok, who opened the action with a one-out bunt single, advanced to second on a Ragonese groundout. O'Leary then found a hole in the right side for the single, which drove in Chertok and gave Tufts the 7-6 win.
Protano picked up his second win with two near-perfect innings of relief behind Smotherman. The only batter to reach against Protano was Trinity third baseman Guy Gugliettino on a walk. Protano sat down the other six batters he faced, three of them by way of the strikeout.
After a bumpy stretch of games the past couple of weeks, the team never lost sight of its capabilities.
"This is where we should be," Chertok said. "If our team plays the way we can we should always be on the winning side."
