TUFTS
& WESLEYAN SPLIT DOUBLE-HEADER IN MEDFORD
COLLEGE BASEBALL
FINAL SCORES
Game 1:
Tufts 9
Wesleyan 8
Game 2: Wesleyan 6
Tufts 0
At Medford, MA
Saturday, April 3, 2004
MEDFORD – The Tufts Jumbos and Wesleyan Cardinals split a double-header on a raw afternoon for baseball on Saturday at Huskins Field. Tufts took a 9-8 win in the first game, scoring five runs in the third inning and holding off a late Wesleyan rally. Wesleyan junior Tom Bloss (Las Vegas, NV) pitched a two-hit shutout in the nightcap.
The Jumbos (6-6) built an 8-2 lead in the first game. Freshman CF Chris Decembrele (Walpole, MA) smashed a two-run double to highlight the five-run third inning. After Wesleyan scored twice in the fourth highlighted by an RBI triple from freshman RF Rob Coughlin (Saratoga Springs, NY), Tufts senior 2B Nick Palange (Hudson, MA) hit his second home run of the spring in the bottom of the inning to give Tufts a 9-4 margin. They needed it, as the Cardinals rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh. Senior SS Angus Fredenburg (Concord, NH) had a two-run double during the surge. The Cardinals put the game-tying run on second base, but Tufts reliever Zak Smotherman (Westborough, MA) came on and retired Coughlin to end the game.
Tufts starter Randy Newsom (Cincinnati, OH) improved to 3-0 with the win. Palange and Decembrele both a pair of hits for the Jumbos. Wesleyan's Eric Wdowiak (Nutley, NJ) last just two innings, giving up seven earned runs and taking the loss. Sophomore CF Jeff Maier (Old Tappan, NJ), who led off the game with a home run, went 3 for 3 with three runs scored and two RBIs for Wesleyan. Fredenburg had two hits and three RBIs.
Maier went deep again to lead off the second game, but Bloss was the story. He allowed only a third-inning single to Palange and a fourth-inning single to junior SS Frank Dinucci (Wilton, CT) in shutting down the Jumbos to improve to 3-1. He did walk four, but it didn't hurt him as the Jumbos failed to advance a runner to third base. The Cardinals scored five runs in the fourth and fifth innings combined – four unearned as Tufts committed two costly errors - to give Bloss more than enough to work with.
Maier finished a fine day by going 2 for 4 with two runs in game two. Sophomore Alexander Brooks (Westport, CT) was 2 for 3 with two runs scored while junior DH Dimitri Paleokrasses (White Plains, NY) had two RBIs without a hit, walking and getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Tufts pitchers Smotherman and sophomore Erik Johanson (Wynnewood, PA) pitched reasonably well for the Jumbos, allowing only two earned runs in seven innings combined.
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