For the baseball team, everything went according to plan this weekend: another year, another clean sweep of Bates.
After outscoring the Bobcats 35-7 in a three-game series in Lewiston, Maine last season, the Jumbos took the field for their first NESCAC series this weekend and nearly matched last year's performance. In three home games at Huskins Field, the Jumbos compiled 30 runs on 32 hits, demolishing the Bobcats and improving their league record to 3-0.
Not to be overshadowed by the offensive fireworks, Tufts' three starting pitchers - junior Adam Telian, senior Derek Rice and junior Jason Protano - turned in strong performances, bolstered by the production of a pair of underclassmen from the batter's box, freshman Corey Pontes and sophomore Kevin Casey.
No Jumbo hitter, however, had a bigger weekend than junior Steve Ragonese, the team's right fielder and cleanup hitter. Ragonese went 5-for-6 in the series' final game, the back-end of a doubleheader on Saturday, homering twice and driving in seven runs, as he led the Jumbos to a 16-2 rout. Ragonese now has five of his team's 10 home runs this year, despite coming into the 2007 campaign with zero career homers.
"As a freshman, [he] was a part-time DH for us, and he hit really well, but last year, he just got into a funk," coach John Casey said. "But now, he's been one of our best hitters all year. And we need him now - he's got to come through. And he's doing what we're asking him to do, which is awesome."
The Jumbos pulled away early in Saturday's second game, as a Ragonese two-run shot and a two-run double from senior tri-captain Bryan McDavitt gave Tufts a 6-0 lead in the second inning. Meanwhile, Protano was cruising on the mound for the Jumbos. The junior went the distance for the first time this season, earning the win and improving to 1-2 on the year.
"We have to have him," Casey said. "If we don't have Pro, we're not going to win. He's got to be a good pitcher for us, and I think that taking a little pressure off by throwing him in game three was good. He responded, and he threw the ball really well. I don't think they got very many good swings against him."
In the first game, Rice and the Jumbos fell behind early against Bates senior pitcher Griffan Finan, as the Bobcats led 1-0 after two innings. Tufts pulled ahead in the third and fourth innings, taking a 3-2 lead, before everything fell apart for Bates in the sixth inning. A Pontes home run kicked off the rally, as the Jumbos recorded seven runs on six hits, one error and three walks, sending 13 batters to the plate in the inning.
"The object was to put the ball in play and make them try to make their plays," Protano said. "Sometimes they did, but they also made a lot of errors, and we capitalized."
The Bobcats, who made a total of eight errors in the series, also had a difficult time stopping the Jumbos on the basepaths, as Tufts was 11-for-13 in its stolen base attempts in the series.
"We're going to try to run on everybody," Casey said. "We're trying to run based on the count, and what [the pitcher is] throwing, and things like that."
The doubleheader sweep Saturday came on the heels of a 4-2 victory Friday afternoon, as the Jumbos snuck away from Huskins with a win in their home opener. Telian was stellar for Tufts, striking out 11 Bobcats in six innings while allowing just one earned run; but the offense was sluggish in the early going.
"I thought we should have hit the ball better," Casey said. "We played the same way Friday as in the first game [Saturday] - we needed to put the ball in play harder, and run more."
The Jumbos were not without strong performances in the Friday win, namely those of Telian and sophomore Kevin Casey, who combined to drive in all four Tufts runs. Still, there was a sense of frustration with the close outcome, a rarity for the Jumbos, who have won 20-of-22 games against Bates since 2000.
"[Friday] was a very sub-par effort on our part," Protano said. "We came out [Saturday] and we played a lot better, and especially in the second game, we got our offense rolling. Hopefully we'll keep rolling from there."
Still, a sweep is a sweep, and with their weekend success, the Jumbos are alone in first place in the NESCAC East at 3-0. Since showdowns with division rivals Bowdoin and Trinity loom later this month, Casey hopes his team will be at full strength when the league schedule gets tougher.
"We'll deal with Bowdoin when they get here in two weeks," Casey said. "We've got six games between now and then, so hopefully we'll be playing a little better then than we are now."
While this Tufts team is 10-4 on the season, it may not be ready to fight for a return to the NESCAC playoffs yet.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Protano said. "We've got a lot to improve on. But we've also got a lot of talent and a lot of capabilities, so I think we're going to be all right. We're just going to keep striding forward, and hopefully, when we face our next NESCAC opponent, we can get the win."
