Looking Back (Oct. 28) | Game 4 Of World Series: Red Sox Sweep Rockies. 4-3
The Rockies were hoping to extend their season, while the Red Sox were trying to sweep their way to another World Series Championship. The Sox put lefty Jon Lester on the mound to face the Rockies opening day starter Aaron Cook, who had not pitched in two months.
Lester hurled five and two-thirds innings of shutout ball and the Boston bats gave the team a 3-0 lead that made it seem like the series was over. Series MVP Mike Lowell had a home run and scored two runs to help give his team the lead, but the Rockies put up a last gasp effort to prolong the Series.
With the Red Sox up 4-1 in the eighth after an unlikely home run from pinch hitter Bobby Kielty off of Rockies All-Star Brian Fuentes, the game got a little closer than Boston fans would have liked. The Red Sox own All-Star reliever, Hideki Okajima, came in after pitching three and a third in the two previous games. Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins hit a two run homer to make the game 4-3, but it was too little too late.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon came in and picked up the save, and the Red Sox picked up their second World Series trophy in four years.
Looking Ahead (Nov. 3) | Field Hockey: Tufts Vs. Middlebury, NESCAC Semifinals
Second-seeded Tufts and No. 3 Middlebury will face off in the NESCAC semifinals on Saturday with a spot in Sunday's conference championship game on the line. The two teams met in the regular season on Sept. 15, with Tufts scoring a monumental 3-1 win, the program's first over Middlebury since 1985.
Senior co-captain Ileana Casellas-Katz led the way, notching both the game-tying and game-winning goals in the Jumbos' effort. Casellas-Katz enters the game with 14 goals this season, tying Aryn Landau (LA '91) and Kate Mathey (E '98) for the single-season program mark.
True to their seedings, Tufts and Middlebury occupy the second and third places in most of the league's statistical categories, behind Bowdoin, which is out ahead in nearly every aspect of the game. Behind senior forward Reid Berrien, the NESCAC's leader in goals and points, Middlebury has posted a conference-best 3.73 goals per game this season. The Jumbos have created offensive opportunities with their speed and ball movement this season, averaging over 21 shots per game. They also boast the league's second-toughest defense, which has only tightened as the season has progressed. The Tufts backfield has posted four shutouts in its past four games and brings a .555 goals-against average in nine October games into the weekend.
The Jumbos will be looking for their first-ever NESCAC Tournament finals appearance, while the Panthers, who have appeared in four of the seven championship games in the NESCAC's history, will be looking for another crack at No. 1 Bowdoin, which won the pairs' two meetings last year - one 3-2 decision in the regular season and a 1-0 nail-biter in the championship game - by just a single goal.
