MANSFIELD, Conn. (May 19) – Tufts University, the winner of the NESCAC, batted around on two occasions during the opening three innings to collect seven runs and go on for a 12-3 victory over GNAC champion Saint Joseph' College (Me.) in a first-round NCAA Division III regional tournament game here today.
Tufts moves on in the winner's bracket Thursday at 1:15 p.m. and will face host Eastern Connecticut State University, which defeated Worcester State College, 10-4, in the day's first contest. Saint Joseph's will meet Worcester St. in an elimination game at 10 a.m.
Sending nine batters to the plate for the second time in the early going, Tufts pulled ahead 7-3 with a four-run 3rd inning. A senior left fielder Nate Bankoff (Lynnfield, Mass.) single, a junior center fielder David Orlowitz (Wakefield, Mass.) RBI triple to right center for the go-ahead run, and an RBI single by senior catcher Alex Perry (Danvers, Mass.) in consecutive fashion made it 5-3 for the top-seeded Jumbos. Perry then stole second, went to third on an infield error and scored on junior designated hitter Ben Walkley's (Trumbull, Conn.) sacrifice fly to right for a three-run cushion. Junior shortstop David LeResche (St. Louis, Mo.), who had reached on the error, eventually scored the seventh Tufts run on a single by junior right fielder Chase Rose (Scottsdale, Ariz.). Rose was the first Jumbos batter to face junior reliever Mason Roberge (Franklin, N.H.), as he came in for sophomore ace Sam Murray (Walpole, Mass.). Murray entered the game with a team-best 7-1 record and 1.77 ERA but absorbed his second loss of the year.
Both teams managed some early scoring as St. Joe's got things started with a run in the 1st and added a pair in the 2nd while Tufts put three on the board in the bottom of the 1st. After junior LeResche was hit by a pitch leading off for Tufts, Walkley smacked an RBI double to left-center to even the score at 1-1. After a single by sophomore third baseman Sam Sager (Cranston, R.I.) moved Walkley to third base, Rose brought him in with a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Jumbos the lead. Sager scored the third Tufts run on a bases-loaded walk to Orlowitz as Tufts batted around in the stanza.
The Monks came back to tie the game at 3-3 in the 2nd, scoring twice with two outs as senior second baseman Mike Burdin (Gardiner, Me.) drove in freshman third baseman Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, Mass.), who had walked and gone to third base on a double to right center by junior shortstop Chris Campbell (Rochester, N.H.). Campbell then rambled home with the tying run on a single off the right-field wall by junior right fielder Todd Keneborus (Hollis Center N.H.). Tufts ended the threat by getting Burdin out in a run down between third and home. St. Joe's owned a 1-0 lead when Burdin, Keneborus and senior first baseman Ben Grant-Ray (Biddeford, Me.) produced consecutive singles off Tufts starter sophomore Kevin Gilchrist (Medford, Mass.), with one out but managed just a lone run on a groundout by senior designated hitter Pat Moran (Winterport, Me.). Gilchrist went the distance for the Jumbos to improve his seasonal mark to 5-0. It was his second complete game in 12 starts in 2010.
Tufts tacked on a pair in the 4th with Perry's double into the left-field corner plating Orlowitz, who had doubled, and a groundout by freshman second baseman Frank Petroskey (Dallas, Texas) bringing in Perry. A three-run 7th inning for the Jumbos was highlighted by a two-run double down the left-field line by Rose after a bases-loaded walk to Sager. Rose was one of six Jumbos with a two-hit effort as he led the way with four RBI. Walkley, Sager, Bankof, Orlowitz and Perry all turned the two-hit trick as well while LeResche scored three runs.
For St. Joe's, Burdin and Keneborus each had a pair of safeties.
COURTESY OF EASTERN CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
