When the baseball team takes the field for its home opener this afternoon, it will face a Bates Bobcats team trying to do the one thing it hasn't done this century: win in Medford.
In the seven-year stretch between 2000 and 2006, the Jumbos are a dazzling 17-2 against the Bobcats, and at Huskins Field, they haven't lost to Bates since April 24, 1999.
This year, Bates brings a young team to Medford, one with just three seniors on its roster, for the first Tufts-Bates series at Huskins in two years. Last year, the Jumbos went to Lewiston, Maine for a NESCAC weekend and emerged with a clean sweep, winning the three games by a combined score of 35-7. This year, however, it remains to be seen whether history will repeat itself.
"Especially in the NESCAC, teams are extremely different from year to year," said senior catcher Chris Decembrele, who went 3-for-4 in last season's conference opener at Bates. "Just because we swept them last year, that doesn't mean anything. We've got to come out and play our butts off to win, because in any sport you can win or lose any game on any day."
This season, the Bobcats are again the Jumbos' first opponent of the in-conference schedule, as Tufts looks to improve upon its 7-4 record compiled during its spring break road trip to Virginia and North Carolina. The Jumbos look poised to continue their winning ways - if, that is, their Southern opponents were of the same caliber as their future New England foes.
"They're very similar," Decembrele said. "They're very good teams. The only difference is, when we play teams in the South, they're already 20 games into their season. But here, the games are extremely competitive, and any game, you can lose."
"The teams we faced down South are all good teams," senior tri-captain Brian Casey said. "They all put pressure on you, and they all make you play your best."
When the Jumbos opened their season against the already well-oiled Southern machines, they still had a few kinks to work out as they looked to fill the voids left by three graduated All-NESCAC stars. So far, things are looking good; three young pitchers - sophomore Mike Stefaniak and freshmen Jordan Goldberg and Thomas Hill - have stepped in to eat some innings on the mound, while several other youngsters have stepped up offensively.
"I'd say we've absolutely improved as a team," Decembrele said. "Whenever you play that many games together as a team, that's going to happen. Your first couple, they're going to be shaky, but as a team, I think we improved as the week went on, and I think it showed - especially in our last win, when we came back against Virginia Wesleyan."
And now, finally, the Jumbos come home after opening the season with 11 games on the road. The Jumbos were a pristine 7-0 at home last year and 11-2 the year before.
"We take pride in playing at home," Casey said. "People have to come here and beat us, and we play well when we're playing in front of our fans."
With the home slate set to begin this weekend, it's time to see whether a home-field advantage begins to reemerge at Huskins.
"It's always nice to play at home," Decembrele said. "It's nice not to have to take that long trip - no one likes two-and-a-half-hour bus rides. But even at home, anything can happen. As much as I'd like to think we have a home-field advantage, I'm not really sure."
In their first weekend series, the Jumbos enter with a tentative starting rotation of senior Jason Protano, junior Adam Telian and senior Derek Rice, three pitchers who have found success against Bates in the past. Telian improved to 2-0 on the season with a win over Bates last year, en route to finishing 5-2, while Protano pitched two innings of scoreless relief against last season's Bobcats. Despite past successes, however, the slate gets wiped clean this time around, and this year's senior class knows the Bobcats' capabilities.
"My freshman year, we went down to Bates and lost two games to them," Decembrele said. "That was just three years ago. This is a NESCAC weekend, and it's one of the biggest weekends of the year in terms of making the playoffs."
The stakes are clearly high, but still, it's hard for the Jumbos not to be confident. They're currently riding high at 7-4, while the Bobcats, who struggled mightily in three spring break doubleheaders, are mired at 1-5.
"We'll be able to run a little bit on them," Casey said of the Bobcats. "We'll be able to jump on their pitchers and keep them off balance."
The Bobcats are hitting .262 as a team so far this season, while the Jumbos are at .299.
Clearly, this is a Tufts squad that's come a long way during its eight-day, 11-game grind over spring break.
"We got used to being outside - we warmed up a bit," Decembrele said. "Our pitching is coming along - we've got a couple of young guys pitching really well - and we've also been getting some good timely hits."
If the consistent pitching and timely hitting keeps up, the Jumbos are in good shape this weekend. The home schedule begins this afternoon, with the first pitch at 3 p.m.
