Despite its annual goal of winning the NESCAC Tournament, over the past few years, the baseball team has developed an irritating penchant for coming up just short.
In 2007, the Jumbos reached the championship game, only to suffer an 8-5 setback against the Williams Ephs in a contest in which Tufts led 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Two years ago, Tufts matched Amherst run-for-run in the final elimination game, with the exception of the Lord Jeffs' three-run sixth inning, and the Jumbos were sent home with an 11-7 loss.
Last year, Tufts came within five outs of its first NESCAC title since 2002. But it took a remarkable turnaround for the Jumbos (19-19) to avoid their first sub-.500 season in 17 years.
"We came back from our spring break trip 2-9, which was definitely not the start to the season that we envisioned," junior starting pitcher Pat O'Donnell said. "But there was a lot of baseball left to play, so we came back and worked hard to get into the NESCAC Tournament."
The Jumbos finished their NESCAC slate with a record of 7-5, and they recorded a crucial sweep of the Colby Mules on the road to secure their tournament berth. Without the two-run double by then-sophomore David Orlowitz in the seventh inning of the weekend finale, Tufts' spot in the playoffs would have been usurped by Bowdoin.
Tufts entered the NESCAC Tournament last year with an overall record of 17-17, and consecutive losses in the double-elimination event would snap their long-lasting streak of winning seasons. An 18-5 thumping at the hands of the Ephs was not the way they wanted to start.
"We lost the opener of the NESCAC Tournament in a blowout, and it was probably one of the worst games we had, but it was an up and down season for us, and we were almost out of contention against Colby as well," said senior Nate Bankoff, who was a combined 6-for-11 with six RBIs in the decisive Saturday doubleheader. "We knew we just had to claw our way back and win the next two to get into the championship."
And that's exactly what the Jumbos did.
Tufts kept its composure throughout a pair of high-scoring elimination games, first defeating Wesleyan 15-10 and then exacting revenge on Williams with a 15-9 victory in a contest in which the two teams combined to make 11 errors in the field.
"Those were two wild games, but we knew that we had to win them," Bankoff said. "We made [seven] errors in the second one, but fortunately those timely hits that we sometimes didn't have during the regular season started coming in the game against Williams."
Orlowitz and classmate Chase Rose led the way in that category, teaming up to go 6-for-11 with five of Tufts' 13 RBIs against the Ephs. Most of those came amid a nine-run bottom of the fourth inning that countered a four-run Williams rally in the top half of the frame and was the Jumbos' biggest single-inning outburst since their 14-1 victory over Mass. Maritime more than a month earlier.
The victory over Williams secured at least a .500 finish for Tufts as the Jumbos improved to 19-18 on the year. But after earning an unlikely berth in the championship game, they weren't about to stop there.
"Our goal every year is to win the NESCAC Tournament, so while it was good to know we wouldn't end the streak, we were definitely motivated to beat Trinity," O'Donnell said.
Heading into the title game, the Bantams had been the juggernauts of the NESCAC, and they were the previous year's Div. III National Champions. But in the finale of a three-game weekend sweep earlier in the season, the Jumbos outplayed Trinity and were unlucky to come away on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision on a walk-off home run by senior catcher Sean Killeen.
Through seven innings of play in the championship game, the Jumbos owned a 3-2 lead, built on a two-run first and an RBI groundout in the sixth inning by then-junior Corey Pontes, as well as a slew of defensive miscues by the Bantams. But trouble struck in the bottom of the eighth, as Tufts walked in a run to tie the game at three apiece. Then, Killeen — who signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox after the season — applied the dagger once more, hooking a grand slam — his second homer of the game — just inside the right-field foul pole to give Trinity a 7-3 advantage they would not surrender.
The Jumbos were happy to have played in the championship after a rocky campaign but were understandably disappointed with the outcome, particularly because it was their third runner-up finish in the tournament in four years.
"The three years I've been here, we've come in second, third and second again," Bankoff said. "So obviously, we were pleased that we could turn things around and make that run to the championship game, but not being able to finish strong and win the title was definitely a disappointment."
For most of the Jumbos, there is at least one more chance left to be the last team standing come May. Tufts returns seven of its nine position players from last season — with the exception of infielder Kevin Casey and outfielder Dave Katzman — and the only departing pitcher is Mike Stefaniak, the team's championship game starter.
With every passing year, the second- and third-place finishes mount, and the "close but no cigar" stigma lingers. But with an experienced core of players in both the lineup and the pitching staff, the 2010 Jumbos may have what it takes to win it all on May 9.
