MEDFORD – Held to one hit over the first five innings, the Tufts University baseball team exploded for seven runs and eight hits in the sixth and seventh innings en route to a 10-4 non-league win over Salem State University on Monday afternoon.
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The game was the first of the 2017 season at Tufts’ Huskins Field. The Jumbos improved to 12-2 overall. The Vikings lost their fourth straight, dropping to 8-9.
With Tufts trailing 4-3, Jumbo junior 1B Nick Falkson led off the sixth with a double off the left-center field wall. He scored to tie the game when junior LF Mike McLaughlin hit an opposite-field double past the bag down the right field line. Junior DH Malcolm Nachmanoff followed with a single to left-center scoring McLaughlin to give Tufts a 5-4 lead.
In the seventh, McLaughlin and Nachmanoff hit back-to-back home runs powering a five-run inning for Tufts. The Jumbos hit for the cycle as a team in the inning, as freshman 2B Elias Varinos led off with a triple down the right field line and scored on a double to the fence in right by senior RF Oscar Kutch. Sophomore CF Casey Santos-Ocampo followed with an rbi single before the back-to-back jacks put Tufts up 10-4.
Tufts freshman Brad Marchetti pitched three innings of no-hit, no-run relief with two walks to close out the win and earn a save.
Salem had started strong scoring in each of the first three innings. They loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning and got a run on a double play ball by senior 3B Dan Connors. In the second, junior Jose Cedano led off with a rocket double to center and scored on a single by sophomore catcher Zack Duval. The Vikings took a 4-3 lead in the third with a pair of walks and rbi singles by Cedrano and junior DH Nick Day.
The Jumbos had scored three times on one hit and two Salem errors in the first. Junior 3B Tommy O’Hara singled to right scoring the first run, but the other two came across on a Viking miscue.
Junior reliever Steve Leavitt came on for Salem in the second and retired the next 11 Tufts batters as the Vikings took the lead. He could only get one out in the sixth though and was a hard-luck loser after four innings of good relief (two hits, two runs).
Freshman Brent Greeley picked up the win in relief for Tufts. He gave up two hits and no runs in two innings, and was helped immensely by a double-play ball in the fifth. Junior Kevin Galasso hurled 1.1 innings of two-hit, no-run relief for the Jumbos.
McLaughlin finished 2 for 3 with three rbis and two runs scored, while Nachmanoff was 2 for 4 with two rbis and a run. Kutch and Santos-Ocampo both scored twice.
Cedano led Salem’s offense at 2 for 4 with a run and an rbi. Freshman Matt Stanley pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the Vikings.
Tufts is home again on Thursday for non-league action when they host MIT at 3 p.m. Salem State is right back at it tomorrow at home against Roger Williams (3:30 p.m.).
