JUMBOS SPLIT AT BOWDOIN AFTER GOING EXTRAS TO WIN NIGHTCAP
COLLEGE BASEBALL FINAL SCORES
Bowdoin 5 Tufts 2
Tufts 7 Bowdoin 6 (11 inn.)
At Brunswick, ME
Saturday, April 17, 2004
BRUNSWICK, Me. - The Tufts University Baseball team split a double-header with NESCAC East foe Bowdoin College on Saturday, losing game one, 5-2, before rallying to win game two in 11 innings, 7-6. The Jumbos now stand at 12-10 overall and 2-4 in the conference. The Polar Bears move to 16-9 on the season (6-3 NESCAC),.
Game one (a seven-inning contest) saw the Jumbos take a 2-1 edge after three innings of play. Bowdoin's Tom McMahon tied the contest in the bottom of the fourth on a home run to left field and the game remained deadlocked until the bottom of the sixth.
In the sixth frame, McMahon drew a lead-off walk against Tufts starter Zac Smotherman (Westborough, MA). After recording two outs, Smotherman hit Manny Lora with a pitch, giving way to pinch-hitter Andy Workman. Tufts countered with freshman reliever Ben Simon (Providence, RI), who gave up a three-run homer to Workman over the left-field wall, giving the Polar Bears a 5-2 edge. Travis Dube, who came into the game in the top of the inning, closed out the contest to get the victory.
Game two saw the Jumbos claim a 2-0 lead on a second-inning home run from freshman CF Chris Decembrele (Walpole, MA) and an RBI single from freshman DH John Rothermel (Knoxville, TN), scoring sophomore SS Greg Chertok (New City, NY). Bowdoin answered in the bottom of the inning with a homer from Ricky Leclerc and proceeded to take the lead in the fifth on Jared Lemieux's RBI double and a run-scoring single from Nick Lawler, 3-2.
Tufts tied the game in the top of the sixth as Rothermel singled home Chertok to make it 3-3. Bowdoin answered again in the bottom of the inning as Tom McMahon cracked a two-run homer and Jon Koperniak drove home Leclerc from second later in the frame to make it 6-3 Polar Bears. Tufts would not be denied, however, and put up a three-spot the next inning to tie the game again. With the bases loaded, sophomore LF Jim O'Leary (North Easton, MA) was hit by a pitch from Bowdoin reliever Andrew Nichols to close the lead to two runs. After Dube came into pitch, Chertok singled home freshman 2B Kyle Backstrom (Worcester, MA) and junior catcher Bob Kenny (Milford, MA) was hit by a pitch to tie the score at six apiece.
The game remained deadlocked until the top of the 11th inning when Jumbo freshman 1B Bryan McDavitt (Holden, MA) singled to lead off the inning and Backstrom sacrificed him to second base. The next batter, Decembrele, hit a groundball to Kevin Bougie, who made a low throw to first, allowing McDavitt to score and give Tufts the lead. Simon, who tossed three innings of no-hit ball, secured the win with a one-two-three bottom of the inning.
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