Box Score HARTFORD - Pitchers Michael Volgende and Silas Reed combined on a shutout as the Tufts University baseball team won 8-0 in a weekend series opener at Trinity College on Saturday.
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| Silas Reed struck out four in his two innings today. |
Tufts improved to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the NESCAC East Division, while Trinity dropped to 8-5 and 3-2. The Jumbos and Bantams will play a double-header at Tufts tomorrow with the East Division pennant on the line. The Jumbos need to win once to take the East, while the Bantams need a sweep.
Volgende (4-0) continued his season as one of the league's top pitchers by throwing seven scoreless innings today. He allowed six hits and did not walk a batter while striking out six. Reed finished the last two innings giving up one hit with a walk and four K's.
The Jumbos had all the runs they needed after scoring in the first. Miles Reid, NESCAC's Co-Player of the Week last week, led off with a walk and scored on a two-out single by Brandon Bay.
With Tufts' lead still at 1-0, Trinity's Jack Mathews tripled with two outs in the third. Volgende got a fly ball to leave him there. After Bantam Vincent Capone led off the fourth with a base hit, Jumbo junior catcher Connor Bowman threw him out stealing.
The Jumbos opened up their lead to 4-0 with three unearned runs in the fifth when the hosts committed three errors. Tufts did not have a hit in the inning. With the bases loaded and two out, and Bay at the plate, a Trinity error allowed all three runs to score.
Tufts added on three more in the sixth, which was started by a double from Will Burgess and an rbi single by Bowman. Trinity pitching had four walks and three wild pitches in the inning, one of which brought in a run as did a sac fly by Jumbo Peter DeMaria (two rbis).
Alex Rodriguez and Bennett Teceno hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the Trinity seventh, but Volgende again worked a fly ball to end the inning.
The Jumbos capped their scoring with a one-out double by Jimmy Evans and a two-out rbi single from DeMaria in the eighth. Reed had Bantam runners on second with one out in both of his innings, but kept them off the board for Tufts' fourth shutout of the year.
Reid scored three times for Tufts and Evans finished 2 for 2 with two runs. Jackson Duffy and Bowman both had two hits.
The Bantams used five pitchers, with starter Cameron Crowley (5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER) taking the loss. Rodriguez had two hits for the hosts.
