No. 5 Gulls Take Tuesday Matchup 5-2 Amid Frigid Conditions

BEVERLY, MA (April 8, 2025) - The Tufts University baseball team fought frozen fingers and numb toes in a frigid midweek matchup at the No. 5 Endicott Gulls, ultimately dropping the game 5-2 on Tuesday afternoon.

The Jumbos (10-12, 2-1 NESCAC) were even with the Gulls (18-3, 6-0 CCC) through the first few innings. The first three innings were a quiet affair as each side dug into their bullpen early. Emmet Christian pitched a clean first inning with a pair of strikeouts before giving way to Hunter Beindorff in the second. The reliever sat down the Gulls in order to finish off the second inning and handed the ball to Cole Donato in the third. Donato followed suit in the bottom of the third with another one-two-three inning to keep the game scoreless.

Tufts struck first in the top of the fourth with their signature scrappy style. James Henshon drew a walk to reach base after battling back from down 0-2, and wasted no time in rounding the bases to score the opening run after a Max Pavlik base hit. Pavlik took second with some heads-up baserunning on the throw home, but would be stranded on the bag.

The highly-ranked Gulls responded with a homer in the bottom of the fifth to even the score. To pitcher Grant Strother's credit, the icy winds were blowing out to left field, and picked up the ball to carry it just over the fence. 

The Jumbos scored to take the lead again in the sixth, once again leaning on the dynamic duo of Henshon and Pavlik with some help from Ben Leonard to plate the run. Leonard poked a single into right field to lead off the frame, and made it to third using his speed after a Henshon base hit. Pavlik lifted a fly ball to deep left field, allowing Leonard to tag up and score the go-ahead run. 

The Gulls evened the score once again in the bottom of the sixth, after Cade Bernardo snuck a double just inside the left field line to drive in the tying run. The score held until the bottom of the seventh, when the Gulls once again lifted one into the wind and over the wall in left to score two. Endicott closer Jake Harmony came on and shut down the Jumbos through the final three innings, and was helped to the winning decision by another solo shot to left field in the bottom of the eighth.

Harmony was creating anything but his namesake for Tufts hitters, as his difficult mix of pitches kept the batting order quiet with a one-two-three ninth inning. 

The loss sees the Jumbos fall to 10-12 on the season. They will have a few days to rest up and more importantly warm up ahead of a three game conference series with Bowdoin.