Thursday, May 13, 2004

NEWSOM, CLEMENT RECEIVE ALL-NESCAC BASEBALL RECOGNITION

2004 All-NESCAC Baseball Teams & Yearly Awards

MEDFORD – The leading pitcher and the leading hitter on the 2004 Tufts University Baseball team earned All-New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) honors today. Senior Randy Newsom (Cincinnati, OH/St. Xavier) was named to the First Team, and sophomore right fielder Matt Clement (Norwood, MA/Norwood) was on the Second Team.

Newsom finished 6-1 with a 3.10 earned run average in 61 innings. With conference champion Amherst and perhaps an at-large team awaiting the start of the NCAA Tournament, he leads the league in strikeouts with 57. He won conference games against Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Colby and Bates, the last of those being a complete game four-hitter against the Bobcats on April 30.  Newsom fanned nine Bowdoin hitters on April 16.

Clement started all 32 games and led the Jumbos with 40 hits, 26 walks and a .370 batting average, 10^th in NESCAC. He was third in NESCAC with a .511 on-base percentage, and tied for third in the conference with 26 walks. Clement had two hits, two runs scored and two batted in during an important 9-4 victory over Colby. A steady outfielder who committed just two errors, he scored 22 runs with 18 runs batted in and six stolen bases.

Tufts was in the hunt for a NESCAC Tournament berth until the last weekend of the season. The Jumbos finished 18-14 overall and 6-6 in the conference's East Division. Behind Newsom's lead they ranked second in the conference with a 3.72 earned run average, while the staff's 75 walks are by far the fewest. The Jumbos' .310 team batting average is fourth in NESCAC.

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