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| Rory Ziomek earned his first win in the second game |
KEENE, NH - The Tufts baseball team earned a split of a non-league double-header at Keene State College on Sunday. The Jumbos built an 8-0 lead and then held on for a 9-7 win in the nightcap. Keene's Connor Longley delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Owls a 3-2 win in the opener at Owl Athletic Complex.
The Jumbo are now 22-5 and conclude a busy stretch with non-league action against Eastern Nazarene at Huskins Field tomorrow (today) at 3 pm. Keene (13-18) welcomes Western New England University to town for a 3:30 pm start on Monday afternoon.
In game one on Sunday, the Jumbos took a first-inning lead, but Keene State got 2.1 perfect innings from reliever Jeff Lunn (2-0) to support the late rally.
Tufts put two on the board in the first inning, as KSC starter Tim Coppinger threw two wild pitches, the first of which allowed Oscar Kutch to score. Dan Kelly added an rbi single through the left side.
Coppinger calmed down, allowing just three more hits the rest of the way. The sophomore got Kelly to hit into a double play to end the third inning, and worked out of trouble in the fifth when Trevor Chapin smartly threw home with the bases loaded to cut down one runner. Coppinger then got Kutch to ground out to first to end the threat.
The Owls tied it in the fifth inning when Longley drew a two-out walk and moved to third on Daniel
Sarah's single to left-center. Mac Struthers brought in both runners with a single to right.
KSC won it in the bottom of the seventh. Vinny Parilla led off with a single and moved into scoring
position on a balk by Joe Thomas. Longley then smacked a single to right field to give the Owls the win. Thomas took the loss (2-1), striking out four in six innings of work.
The Jumbos led 8-0 in the sixth inning of game two, but needed to stave off a late rally in the final two innings to secure the win.
Tommy O'Hara had given Tufts a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer over the right field fence in the third inning, his fourth of the year. A wild pitch brought in another run in the third inning.
Eric Schnepf had a three-rbi double in the top of the fifth, and Will Shackelford made it 8-0 with a two-rbi double in the sixth inning.
The Keene rally began in the sixth, when KSC plated four runs. Struthers reached on an error to open the inning, and moved up on Zach Rollins' bunt single. After the two runners moved up on a groundout, Christian Bourgea singled in a run through the right side. After Chapin walked, Devin Springfield hit a grounder to first, and Nick Falkson elected to go to second, but the throw was not in time, as Rollins scored and the bases were loaded. Parilla was robbed of extra bases with a great catch by Stephan White in right field, but Bourgea came home on the sacrifice fly, and Longley singled in another run with a hit through the right side.
Tufts made it a five-run game as Harry Brown doubled home Cody McCallum in the top of the seventh. That run proved to be some insurance for the Jumbos, as KSC scored three times in the seventh.
Struthers led off with a single, and Rollins walked. The Jumbos brought in Matt Moser to pitch, and after Robbie Hamilton struck out, Bourgea singled through the right side to load the bases. An error by Shackelford at short allowed Struthers and Rollins to score, and Springfield made it 9-7 with an rbi single. After Parilla reached on a fielder's choice, Longley came to the plate as the winning run. He grounded it to Kevin Godin at first, and though the ball squirted through his legs, Christian Zazzali was right behind to make the game-ending play.
Rory Ziomek received the win, striking out six in 5.2 innings of work. Michael Wasserman took the loss (0-1) for Keene State. Nick Nowak, Bobby Baril, Steve Zadravec, Michael McDermott, and Brandon Heath all saw time out of the bullpen.
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