Tufts Earns 15-9 Win in Resumed Game Five of Baseball Championship
Courtesy Williams Sports Information
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Williams College Ephs (25-12) and the Tufts University Jumbos (19-18) resumed Game 5 of the 2009 NESCAC Baseball Championship Sunday morning in the top of the seventh inning with one out, resulting in a 15-9 Tufts victory. With the win, the Jumbos eliminate Williams from the tournament and earn the chance to challenge the defending NESCAC Champion Trinity Bantams, who they will have to defeat twice to take the trophy.
Sophomore Pat O’Donnell was on the hill for the Jumbos when the weather forced players off the field, and he remained on the bump to start the seventh. The Ephs had runners on first and second with one out and junior Al Mathews at the dish, the NESCAC leader in batting average and RBIs. Before the first pitch was delivered, junior Robin Allemand got caught leaning off second and was picked off for the second out. After Mathews’s single moved senior Barrett Allison to second, he too was nabbed at second base on a close pickoff play to end the inning.
Senior southpaw Horowitz entered in the bottom of the frame to finish the day on the hill for Williams. With runners on second and third and two outs, senior Dave Katzman singled in the 14th Jumbo run. Tufts would insure their lead further in the eighth when a two-out error scored sophomore Dave LeResche to make it a 15-9 ballgame heading into the ninth.
Williams threatened in their half of the eighth, putting runners on second and third with one out, but they could not get the big clutch hit to put them back in contention. They failed to rally in the top of the ninth as O’Donnell closed out the contest to advance the Jumbos to the championship round.
Sophomore starter Derek Miller (4-2) was awarded the win, despite allowing 6 earned runs off 8 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings of work. Williams started rookie Harry Marino (3-1), who took the loss in 3.2 innings, surrendering 9 earned runs on 8 hits and 4 walks.
Sophomore Chase Rose boasted the best day at the plate for Tufts, going 4 for 5 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. Sophomore David Orlowitz also had a big game, going 2 for 6 with two runs and 3 RBI. Freshman Stephen Maier went 2 for 6 with 2 RBIs for Williams and fellow rookie Cameron Susk also had 2 RBIs.
Scoring began yesterday in the bottom of the first, when freshman leadoff hitter Sam Sager singled to start the inning for Tufts. After Marino got the next two outs, junior Nate Bankoff and Rose belted back-to-back RBI singles to give the Jumbos an early 2-0 advantage.
The Ephs got on the board in the third when junior Chad Brown’s sacrifice fly brought in Maier to cut the deficit in half. They struck for 4 more runs on 4 hits and 2 errors in the fourth, highlighted by Maier’s 2-run homer to left center.
But in the bottom of the frame, the Jumbos took the lead back and then some, rallying for 9 runs on just 4 hits to make it an 11-2 ballgame. After Marino got two quick outs to start the inning, Sager and Katzman reached base to set up a 2-run Orlowitz double. Marino then walked the next four hitters before being pulled from the mound of junior Thomas Coleman. The reliever would also exit later in the same inning after 5 more runs crossed the plate. Senior Zack Stone took the hill and finally got the elusive third out. But the critical blow had been dealt, as Williams was unable to overcome the 9-run hole and eventually lost 15-9, despite 7 Jumbo errors in the field.
Tufts and Trinity will battle at 10:30 a.m. on Bobby Coombs Field this morning for Game 1 of the championship series. If Trinity wins, they will have earned their second consecutive NESCAC title, while Tufts will have to win back-to-back games today to dethrone the Bantams.
