Box Score MEDFORD - For the second straight game and seventh time this season, the Tufts baseball team scored in its last at bat to win as Tommy O'Hara's single in the bottom of the ninth gave the Jumbos a 3-2 victory over MIT on Saturday at Huskins Field.
Tufts trailed 2-1 entering the bottom of the eighth and scored single runs in the eighth and ninth to win. The Jumbos improved to 27-6 overall while MIT dropped to 20-14.
In the Jumbo eighth, Harry Brown led off with a single through the right side. He would score on a two-out single by Christian Zazzali tying the game at 2-2.
After reliever R.J. Hall put the Engineers down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, including two strikeouts, Jumbo freshman catcher Harrison Frickman led off the bottom of the inning with a walk. Cody McCallum sacrified him to second and he scored on O'Hara walk-off single to left.
MIT starter David Hesslink had limited the Jumbos to just three hits in the first fiving innings. Jumbo starter Speros Varinos was nearly as good, retiring the first nine batters before the Engineers got on the scoreboard in the fourth. John Drago was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on a single by Alec Echevarria.
Frickman was also at the center of the rally when Tufts tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth. He led off with a single up the middle and again was sacrificed to second by McCallum. Then Hesslink, who hadn't walked a batter up to that point, issued three bases on balls including a run-scoring free pass to Nick Falkson.
MIT regained the lead in the eighth with the help of Tufts miscues. Kendall Helbert walked, took second on a passed ball, went to third on a single by Garrett Greenwood, and scored on a wild pitch.
After putting just three runners on base through five innings, the Jumbos had 12 in the sixth through ninth innings and produced the win.
O'Hara finished 2 for 3 for Tuts, who had eight hits. Frickman scored a pair of runs. Hall picked up the win in relief, going 1.2 innings allowing no runs and no hits. He is now 6-0. Varinos allowed three hits and one run with nine strikeouts and a walk in seven innings.
MIT had just four hits in the game. Reliever Michael Wymer took the loss. Hesslink gave up four hits and one run with six K's and three walks in six frames.
The victory was some revenge for the Jumbos, who lost to MIT 5-4 earlier this season in Virginia. The Engineers tied that game in the bottom of the ninth and won it in the bottom of the 13th.
Tufts travels to Vermont tomorrow for a pair of games at Middlebury College starting at 12:30 pm. MIT hosts St. Joseph's (ME) on Thursday at 4 pm.
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