COLLEGE BASEBALL FINAL SCORE
ECAC New England Division III Semi-final
Tufts 8 Salem State 7

at Medford, Mass.
Saturday, May 13, 2000

SS –Griff Nichols, Dave Madzunovic (6) and Dave Albrecht, Geoff Eriksen (7); T – Steve Lapham, Mike Saucier (8), Jon Lee (8) and Joe Surprenant.

WP – Lee (6-2); LP – Madzunovic (4-2).

2B – SS, Joe Barteaux; T, Tim Ayres, Evan Zupancic.

HR – SS, Bill Monto (7), Luke Foskett (5); T, Todd Boutwell (3).

RBI – SS, Luke Foskett 3, Joe Barteaux 2, Bill Monto, Joe Scarano; T, Evan Zupancic 2, Zack Brown, Todd Boutwell, Dan Callahan, Joe Surprenant, Mike Gray.

Records – SS, 19-16; T, 26-11.

MEDFORD – Freshman CF Evan Zupancic (Lake Oswego, OR) raced home to score on a wild pitch, beating a close play at the plate, in the bottom of the eighth inning for the deciding run in Tufts University's 8-7 victory over Salem State College in the semi-finals of the ECAC New England Division III Baseball Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

Tufts (26-11), four-time ECAC Champions, will host Suffolk University (35-7) in the Championship Game at 4 pm today. The Rams were 6-0 winners over Worcester State College (24-13) in the other semi-final played at Babson. Salem's season is over with a 19-16 mark.

Tufts led Salem 7-1 after scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Vikings battled back with three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to tie the game at 7-7. Sophomore RF Luke Foskett (Charlton, MA) hit a three-run opposite field home run in the eighth to tie the game. Senior LF Joe Barteaux's (Lynn, MA) two-run double was the big hit in the seventh.

In the Tufts eighth, Zupancic walked and stole second. He was sacrificed to third by junior C Joe Surprenant (Tewksbury, MA) and then scored on the wild pitch. Tufts freshman P Jon Lee (Manhasset Hills, NY), who entered in the eighth and recorded the final two outs to stop a Salem rally, allowed a two-out single to Salem senior C Geoff Eriksen (Wakefield, MA) in the ninth before getting the final out on a force play.

Junior LF Todd Boutwell (Woburn, MA) gave the Jumbos a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a solo home run, his third. Sophomore RF Dan Callahan (Medfield, MA) stroked a run-scoring single in the third for a 2-0 lead, then Zupancic pushed the margin to 3-0 with an RBI double in the third. Salem cut the deficit to 3-1 on junior CF Bill Monto's (Millis, MA) solo home run to open the fifth. Senior DH Zack Brown (Melrose, MA) singled home a run as part of the Jumbos' four-run sixth.