The sight of senior centerfielder Jim O'Leary and freshman right fielder Brian McDonough sprawled across right-center field after colliding in pursuit of a fly ball was enough to turn a messy seven-run fiasco into a nightmare for the Tufts baseball team in its first-round NESCAC matchup against Middlebury on May 12.
Not only did the inning send Tufts spinning out of control and into the undesirable end of a 14-1 thrashing, but it also threatened to end O'Leary's career prematurely.
As it turned out, the center fielder only suffered a contusion in his shoulder, while McDonough sustained a concussion. O'Leary missed the second game of the day; but due to the masterful pitching performance of junior tri-captain Ben Simon in the later set against Williams, Tufts won 8-0, keeping the team alive for at least one more game.
"I still don't know exactly what happened," O'Leary said. "I had no range of motion on Saturday. I was definitely thinking that I didn't want [my career] to end that way; I was really happy we beat Williams so it wouldn't have to end that way."
With O'Leary in the lineup the next day, a game-time decision by coach John Casey, the Jumbos defeated Bowdoin 6-2 on its home turf, but subsequently lost the championship game to Middlebury 8-1.
The team had come to depend on O'Leary's powerful bat in the three-hole over the course of the season, as he led the squad with his .467 batting average, .682 slugging percentage and .565 on base percentage.
"Anytime you have a guy like Jim in the lineup you rely on him," junior Chris Decembrele said. "He's been doing this for two years now; he's been the backbone of the offense the whole year. It has certainly been a pleasure to play with him."
Despite emerging as one of the best players on a club that posted 24 wins in 2006, O'Leary's path to success was rocky and injury-riddled.
After playing football, basketball and baseball at Roxbury Latin High School in Easton, Mass., O'Leary applied early decision to Tufts, along with his twin brother Brian O'Leary, anticipating a fruitful career in both baseball and football. But due to a series of bad-luck situations, his collegiate career started off on the wrong foot - literally.
In his first weekend in college, O'Leary tore the ligaments in his right foot after being stepped on during a scrimmage. The injury sidelined him for the entire football season and only permitted limited playing time on the junior varsity baseball team during the spring.
"It was six, seven months till full recovery," O'Leary said. "It affected the beginning of my baseball career; I didn't dress for varsity, and only played JV. Since I couldn't run full speed and couldn't work out with the team in the preseason, I didn't get a good look freshman year."
Finally functioning at full physical capacity, O'Leary entered his sophomore year ready to showcase his true capabilities on both the football field and the baseball diamond.
The fates were out to get him, however, and the tight end sustained a season-ending injury, breaking his left forearm after hitting teammate and then-sophomore Sean Mullin in the facemask after playing in only one game.
And again, the ailment affected his baseball conditioning, as O'Leary had only 42 at bats in his sophomore year.
O'Leary took the football field for a third time in late August of his junior year, and after being hit in a scrimmage, snapped his left forearm a few days later in the weight room. Following another attempt and another season-concluding injury, O'Leary decided to permanently hang up his football cleats.
He was, however, determined to stick with baseball, his primary sport since high school.
"By junior year I finally started playing well and became the player I should be," O'Leary said. "Baseball was my
primary sport, but my goal was to finish playing both; it just didn't work out. It never crossed my mind to quit baseball. Even though there were a lot of challenges, and it was frustrating at times, I was confident that my ability would eventually show itself as long as I kept working hard."
Indeed, O'Leary's offensive capabilities began to shine through as he posted a .337 batting average and .604 slugging percentage during the 101 at-bats of his junior season. Roaming the corner outfield positions and batting leadoff, O'Leary became a staple in Tufts' 2005 lineup.
"He's one of the best hitters I've ever played with or against," senior tri-captain Greg Chertok said. "He's unbelievable; he's battled through injuries. This year and at the end of last year, he's really showed what he's able to do. He's one of the best hitters in the country."
With football behind him, O'Leary spent the off-season working on transitioning to centerfield and becoming a more complete hitter in the middle of the order.
But even without football, the nightmare recurred; the senior dislocated his thumb during the team's spring trip to Virginia, forcing him out of the lineup for the first five games of the season. By this time, however, O'Leary knew how to cope with injuries, and after his time on the shelf, he emerged as the best hitter on the team for the last 32 games of 2006. Additionally, with the help of outfield coach Bob Clarke, O'Leary played flawless defense in centerfield, posting a 1.000 fielding percentage.
"It has been a long, hard career, but it really paid off in the end," O'Leary said. "I'm glad I stuck with it; it helped me grow personally and improved all aspects of my life at Tufts. I played with a great group of seniors, and throughout the four years, developed great friendships.
"We became solid baseball players as a whole, and although maybe we weren't expected to, we turned out to be one of the best senior classes we've ever had in Tufts baseball," he continued.
A history major, O'Leary accumulated a 3.4 GPA and was awarded the Bennett Memorial Scholarship, given to one female and one male athlete every year for exhibiting exceptional sportsmanship.
Along with senior Zak Smotherman and Greg Chertok, O'Leary will participate in a New England All-Star game held at Fenway Park on May 28 that honors the best Div. I, II and III ballplayers in the New England area.
