An up-and-down season for the baseball team stayed true to form during the NESCAC Tournament. After defeating West champion Williams in the first round, the Jumbos could do no more damage, dropping their final two games of the double-elimination tournament to end their season
at 19-15.
On the heels of their victory over the Ephs, the Jumbos faced undefeated Trinity on May 10 looking to secure their third consecutive trip
to the conference championship game.
But the national No. 3 Bantams, who went on to win the NESCAC championship, were no ordinary opponents, boasting an unbeaten 35-0 mark heading into
the contest.
"I was just trying to go in and treat it like any regular game and regular team," said freshman Pat O'Donnell, who took the mound for Tufts. "You've got to focus on what you can do and you hope things will go favorably. I just wanted to try to give our team a chance to win the game. Against Trinity, they're going to score runs, so you just have to keep it as low as possible, and that's what I tried to do."
O'Donnell did just that, limiting the Bantams to just one run through the first four frames, courtesy of a first-inning sacrifice fly from sophomore first baseman Kent Graham. But Trinity pounded out nine hits and four runs over the next three innings to build a commanding 5-0 lead.
That was more than enough for Bantams sophomore starter Jeremiah Bayer, who held the Jumbos scoreless for seven innings and recorded
nine strikeouts against just one walk.
"Trinity is a great team," senior co-captain Adam Telian said. "We have the potential to beat them, but they've just played great all year."
The setback forced Tufts into a do-or-die situation against Amherst on the morning of May 11, with the winner going on to face Trinity in the championship game and the loser headed home. Behind a 5-for-6, three-RBI performance from junior third baseman Brendan Powers, Amherst prevailed 10-7.
The teams traded runs in the first and third innings, and Tufts responded to
a fourth-inning Jeffs run with a
game-tying RBI single from freshman left fielder Chase Rose in the fifth.
But in the top of the sixth inning, Amherst put together a rally that would decide the game. Junior designated hitter Angus Schaller led
off with a solo home run, chasing Tufts senior starter Jason Protano.
"As a pitching staff, we were up in the zone," Protano said. "We didn't throw our pitches down. Because of that, they hit the ball."
Coach John Casey then turned to junior Mike Stefaniak, who couldn't stop the bleeding. Four hits and two runs later, the Jeffs had themselves a 6-3 cushion.
After the top of the eighth inning, Amherst turned the game into a rout, roughing up freshman pitchers Jack Dilday and Derek Miller for three more runs. The big blow came off the bat of Schaller, whose two-run double upped the Jeffs' lead to 9-3 and put the game out of reach.
"I couldn't establish my fastball," Dilday said. "I was getting it up in the zone, so I couldn't throw my offspeed stuff. When a fastball-hitting team like Amherst knows it's coming, they're going to hit it hard."
Facing a six-run deficit with their season on the brink, the Jumbos made things interesting in the home half of the eighth inning.
Junior designated hitter Eric Catalanotti got the rally started by scoring on a wild pitch, and then later in the inning, with the bases loaded, senior second baseman Steve Ragonese came through with a two-run single to right field that cut the Jumbos' deficit to 9-6.
But Tufts would get no closer than three, ultimately falling for the fourth time in the teams' last five meetings.
The setbacks were a sour ending to a weekend that began on a stellar note, particularly for Telian.
In the final appearance of his career, the Stoughton, Mass. native came up with one of the best performances of his career, hurling a complete-game shutout that allowed the Jumbos to come away with a 1-0 victory. Telian surrendered seven hits, struck out three and walked one.
"It was the first time all year that I felt good about all my pitches," Telian said. "My fastball had some good movement all day."
The lone run of the game came courtesy of a bases-loaded walk by junior center fielder Dave Katzman in the second inning.
David Heck contributed reporting to this article.
