Baseball Plates 15 in Emphatic Regular Season Finale

NORTHBOROUGH, MA (April 30, 2025) - The Tufts University baseball team wrapped up their regular season slate with a big road win at the New England Baseball Complex as a pair of Ben Leonard blasts helped power the Jumbos to a 15-6 win over the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Engineers on Wednesday afternoon.

The Jumbos (15-19) looked to the bullpen from the start as the starting rotation got the regular season finale off. The Engineers (14-23) were quick to get on the board, plating a run in the bottom of the first after Hunter Beindorff got into a jam. Beindorff managed to escape it with only two runs allowed before relinquishing the mound to Mark Herlihy. 

Herlihy managed to pitch through a hiccup in the third with only a single run allowed, setting the table for an explosive top of the fourth inning.

The Jumbos loaded the bases before recording an out, and Nick Banner drew a walk to drive in the first run for Tufts. Jesse McCullough earned an RBI with a walk of his own, and Ozzie Fleischer broke the game wide open with a bases clearing double for 3 RBI and the lead. Henry Fleckner dug out an infield single soon after to score Fleischer, and Tufts had a 6-3 lead in the blink of an eye. A perfectly executed double-steal saw Fleckner come home and Leonard advance to second, before an error on a Banner ground ball to the left side saw another pair of runs come across. 

The nine run inning put the Jumbos ahead 9-3, and the scoreline held behind some stingy pitching by Herlihy. Leonard led off the sixth with a big fly over the wall in right field before Connor Brala made it 11-3 with an RBI groundout. Ronan Hwang held the Engineers scoreless through 1.2 innings of work before Emmet Christian did the same across 1.1 innings. 

McCullough tacked on a pair of RBI with a single in the top of the eighth, and the top of the ninth saw Leonard homer again for another pair of runs.

Justin Wells and Cole Donato combined to close out the ninth with three runs allowed as the Engineers made a desperate attempt at a comeback. An unassisted groundout to third ended the game with the Jumbos ahead 15-6, and they ended their regular season with an emphatic win.

Tufts shifts their attention to the postseason, as they head up north to Middlebury for the first round of the 2025 NESCAC Championship Tournament. They will play the first two games of the three game series on Saturday beginning at noon.