JUMBOS START STRONG IN NCAAs WITH 8-2 WIN OVER BRANDEIS
COLLEGE BASEBALL FINAL SCORE
NCAA New England Region Tournament
Tufts 8 Brandeis 2
At Harwich, MA
Thursday, May 16, 2002
| Brandeis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | = | 2-9-2 |
| Tufts | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | x | = | 8-10-2 |
Records - T, 26-8-1; B, 25-13.
HARWICH -- Senior RF Dan Callahan (Medfield, MA) and junior SS Brian Shapiro (Swampscott, Mass.) were each 2 for 3 with three runs batted in, and junior P Jon Lee (Mahnassett Hills, NY) struck out 11 batters as Tufts defeated Brandeis, 8-2, in an NCAA Division III Baseball Regional First Round game. It was the first NCAA Tournament win by the Tufts baseball team in 52 years.
Brandeis jumped on the board first, when senior Jim Freethey led off the game with his fourth home run of the season. The Jumbos evened the score at 1-all in the home half of the first when junior CF Evan Zupancic (Lake Oswego, OR), who was 2 for 3 with four runs scored, scored on a sacrifice fly.
Brandeis took the lead again in the top of the third when senior Mike Dowdy scored on fielder's choice. However, the lead was short-lived as Shapiro hit his seventh home run of the season, a two-run blast to left. The Jumbos added two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and tallied one time in the eighth, to round out the scoring. The win was their 26th, tying the all-time Tufts record set by the 2000 team.
Lee was an ace, scattering nine hits over nine innings to improve to 7-1. Brandeis junior Tom McShane pitched 5.2 innings to take the loss, He allowed seven runs on nine hits during that span to drop to 8-4.
Tufts will now face Eastern Connecticut on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
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