Teams: Baseball: Schedule & Results

JUMBOS DEFEAT PURCHASE, LOSE TO GUILFORD IN ST. PATRICK'S DAY PAIR

COLLEGE BASEBALL FINAL SCORES
Tufts 15, Purchase 10
Guilford 14, Tufts 13 (11 inn.)

At Greensboro, NC
Monday, March 17, 2008

Purchase Box Score

Guilford Box Score

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Tufts baseball team picked up its first win of the season on Monday morning, 15-10, against Purchase College in a game played at Guilford College. Later in the day, the Jumbos played the host Quakers and lost 14-13 in extra innings.

Game information against Purchase is not available yet.

Guilford's Byron Myers' single down the right-field line scored pinch-runner Mike Braverman from second base to give the Quakers a 14-13 non-conference baseball win over Tufts at Edgar McBane Field. The defeat set Tufts back to 1-3 on the season. The victory marked Guilford's (12-11) fourth straight comeback win in three days.

Guilford took an 8-1 lead after three innings, only to see the Jumbos (1-3) chip away at the lead and pull to within 8-7 thanks to a five-run sixth inning. Tufts sent nine batters to the plate in the frame and got run-scoring singles from junior RF Eric Catalanotti (Grafton, MA) and junior pinch-hitter Ari David (Lincoln, MA). The Quakers answered in the bottom half of the sixth inning thanks to a three-run triple by sophomore catcher Jason Flud. The Jumbos continued their comeback as David delivered another RBI hit in the top of the seventh to make it an 11-8 contest.

Guilford's Paul Keenan worked through the eighth inning before handing the ball off to Michael Costa in the top of the ninth. The sidewinding junior yielded two singles before hitting Catalanotti to load the bases. David followed with a one-out walk that made the score 11-9. Pinch-hitter Corey Pontes (Milford, MA) tied the game for Tufts with a two-run single to left. Tim Lucas replaced Costa and got Dave Katzman (North Andover, MA) to hit into the Jumbos' fourth double play of the game.

After sophomore Jordan Goldberg (Westborough, MA) held the Quakers scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, Tufts took a 13-11 lead in the 10th on freshman shortstop David Lereche's (St. Louis, MO) bases-loaded single to left that scored two runs. Tufts' Jack Dilday (Long Beach, CA) retired the first two batters in the bottom of the 10th before sophomore C Jason Flud walked and took third on pinch-hitter John Goodwin's double. Drew Ward walked to load the bases, which brought reserve outfielder Jordan Nelson to the plate for his first at-bat of the game. The freshman was 2 for 20 in 12 prior appearances, but delivered an opposite-field single to right that tied the game at 11-11.

Guilford's Drew Gurkin started in the 11th on the mound and walked the bases loaded around a fielder's choice groundout by Katzman. Guilford coach Nick Black called for his seventh pitcher of the day, sophomore ace Ryan Hairston, who threw a nine-inning five-hitter on Saturday. Jumbo sophomore 2B Nate Bankoff (Lynnfield, MA) hit into a fielder's choice grounder to third that forced Katzman at the plate for the innings second out. Hairston got out of the jam by retiring cleanup hitter Steve Ragonese (Upper Saddle River, NJ) on a grounder to second. Guilford second baseman Drew Ward fielded the ball in the hole and his throw just beat Ragonese's head-first slide into the bag.

The Quakers banged out 18 hits one day after gathering a season-best 20 hits in a 9-6 win over Purchase College. Myers and Alex Starbuck had three hits apiece, while Flud added two hits and three RBIs. Starbuck and Myers both plated two runners.

Tufts also had 18 hits and was led by freshman LF Ian Goldberg's (Lake Forest, IL) three hits, which included a leadoff homer in the first. He and David both finished with three RBIs.

The Jumbos play Greensboro College in NewBridge Bank Park Tuesday (3/18) at 7:00 pm. The Quakers get some much needed time off before returning to Old Dominion Athletic Conference play Saturday (3/22) at Hampden-Sydney College.

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