Trinity Claims 5-1 Victory Over Tufts in Game 4 of Baseball Championship
Courtesy Trinity Sports Information
HARTFORD, Conn. – Sophomore RHP Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield, Mass.) pitched seven innings of shutout ball with nine strikeouts and just one walk to lead Trinity to a 5-1 win over the visiting Tufts in game four of the 2008 NESCAC Baseball Championship Saturday afternoon.
Trinity improves to 36-0, extending the nation’s best-ever Division III baseball season start and breaking the College record for wins in a season.
The Bantams advance to game six tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. The Jumbos, who defeated Williams, 1-0, in their opening round game at Wesleyan today, fall to 19-14 and will play Amherst in another elimination game tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. at Trinity. Amherst edged Williams, 9-8, in 10 innings in an elimination game at Wesleyan this afternoon.
Bayer allowed six hits in seven innings to improve to 7-0 and Trinity, officially the visiting team in the game, got the only run it would need in the top of the first inning when sophomore OF Jack Abbott (Longmeadow, Mass.) got the first of his three hits in the game and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by classmate Kent Graham (Longmeadow, Mass.).
Bayer and Tufts freshman starter Pat O’Donnell (Worcester, Mass.) kept both teams scoreless over the next three frames, but the Bantams added another run in the top of the fifth inning on a three consecutive, two-out singles by Abbott, junior 2B Ryan Piacentini (Portland, Maine), and junior tri-captain C Sean Killeen (Greenfield, Mass.). Trinity sophomore OF James Wood (Windham, N.H.) and Piacentini belted solo homers and senior 3B Tim Bourdon (Simsbury, Conn.) added a sacrifice fly to account for the remaining Trinity runs. Tufts freshman Chase Rose (Scottsdale, Ariz.) belted a solo shot over the center field wall in the eighth inning to avoid the shutout.
Abbott finished 3-for-5, while Piacentini went 3-for-3 to finish 5-for-7 with four seven runs and four RBI for the day. Trinity pounded out 16 hits off three Jumbo pitchers, but left 12 men on base. Tufts left 10 men on base and had runners in scoring position in each of the first five innings. O’Donnell went seven innings and allowed 12 hits to drop to 6-2 for the season.
