It took a few innings, but once the baseball team started scoring runs, they came in bunches.
Junior catcher Matt Collins broke open a 3-3 tie with a three-run home run and smashed five RBIs as Tufts rolled over visiting Mass. Maritime 11-5 yesterday afternoon in non-conference action to win their first game back from the team's annual spring break trip to Virginia and North Carolina.
Back at Huskins Field for the first time since clinching the second NESCAC Tournament championship in program history on May 9, 2010, the Jumbos (6-4-1) found their offensive stroke against the Buccaneers after having plated just 15 runs in the past 49 innings, scoring six combined runs in the fourth and fifth frames to overcome a three-run deficit and build an insurmountable lead.
Collins' homer, a two-out blast to left field that plated junior co-captain third baseman and shortstop Sam Sager and senior right fielder Chase Rose, moved the Jumbos ahead, 6-3. Collins had an RBI the inning prior as well, doubling home Sager and later scoring on an RBI single from sophomore first baseman Tom Howard that tied things up with Mass. Maritime (5-5) at 3-3.
"I don' t know if it opened the floodgates, but I just tried to get good contact and help the team in any way I could, and this time it happened to be a home run," Collins said. "There's a pretty good gust out to left field at Huskins that I think helped it out a pretty good amount. I knew I got a decent piece, but I wasn't sure because I hit it pretty high."
From the third inning on, the Jumbos outscored the Buccaneers 11-2, an effort that extended through a lineup that has, at least compared to 2010's record-setting campaign, struggled to put up runs across the board.
Senior second baseman Frank Petroskey tripled in the seventh, driving in senior left fielder Ian Goldberg, who reached on a fielder's choice, and Howard, who was hit by a pitch. Petroskey, a 2010 Second-Team All-NESCAC selection, went 1-for-3 with two RBIs on the afternoon, while Howard scored a pair of runs and went 3-for-3.
Collins tallied his fifth RBI in the eighth, plating Sager, who had doubled, on a sacrifice fly. Earlier in the frame, Sager, who finished with three runs and a pair of RBIs, drove in senior centerfielder David Orlowitz, who went 1-for-4 in his first game back from a hip flexor injury that had sidelined him for six games.
Coach John Casey was less optimistic than the 11 total runs, the Jumbos' third-most productive offensive output of the season, would suggest.
"We have good at-bats and bad at-bats, and we had too many bad at-bats in the game, so when we face some good pitching in the league we're going to struggle," he said. "I think we were flat and we didn't do what we were supposed to, and that's on me for not having them ready."
Though the runs provided some insurance for the Jumbos, its pitching staff needed little help getting through the Buccaneers' lineup in the later innings. On one of Casey's trademark "staff days," seven Jumbos threw at least an inning each, limiting Mass. Maritime to five runs on seven hits.
Junior Dave Ryan (2-0) picked up the win after working a shutout fifth inning, starting a three-inning scoreless streak that included a perfect sixth from junior Jake Crawford and a one-hit seventh by sophomore Alex Cronkite.
Senior Ed Bernstein continued his hot start to 2011, striking out the side in the ninth. Dating back to 2010, Bernstein has allowed just five earned runs in his past 38.2 innings and has frequently worked the final frame for the Jumbos in the absence of junior All-American Chris DeGoti, the program's all-time saves leader who is out for the year with Tommy John surgery.
For the Buccaneers, sophomore designated hitter Zachary Sullivan went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run homer to right in the eighth. Junior Andrew DiNisco led off the game with a double down the left-field line and later scored to put Mass. Maritime up early. The shortstop went 2-for-2 with two runs. The final five spots in the Buccaneers' lineup, however, went 0-for-18 against the Tufts staff.
While the Jumbos scored a win in their first game at Huskins Field this season, the team still insists that improvements must be made before NESCAC opponent Bates comes to Medford for the conference-opener this weekend.
"If you take an honest assessment of both teams, I think we're better," Casey said. "But that has nothing to do with it; it's how you play, and I didn't think we did a good job today."
Collins echoed his coach's sentiment on there being room for development, especially as Tufts begins its quest for another NESCAC crown.
"We just need to work on a daily basis on hitting the ball hard the other way and never giving in at the plate and fighting every pitch," Collins said. "If we don't do that, then we won't be successful. I don't know if anything has changed, but we'll just continue to work hard on staying back and hitting the ball hard, and hopefully that'll translate to Bates."
