Baseball closes out season with doubleheader loss to Tufts
by Mack Fisher
In their final two games of the season, the Colby baseball team lost twice against the visiting Tufts Jumbos.
The Mules went into their Saturday doubleheader with a record of 10 wins and 17 losses. They found a tough opponent in the Jumbos. The first-place Tufts baseball team arrived in Waterville with 25 wins and only seven losses.
The weather Saturday was a comfortable springtime temperature, and flashes of sunlight warmed the excited fans and family members and Coombs field.
The Jumbos were quick to strike in the first of their two games. In the first inning, Tufts’ Peter DeMaria hit a double to drive a teammate home. This first point up on the board was soon followed by an onslaught of runs. In the second inning, the Jumbos scored three runs, and in the third, they scored two more. By the bottom of the third inning, the score was a threatening 6–0 when the Mules struck back. Senior Matt Mitchell hit a single that got him on base, which Keenan Luliano ’19 capitalized on with a double that brought him home for the score. The Mules were unable to shift the momentum of the game, however, and Tufts continued to dominate.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Jumbos scored four more runs and solidified their lead over the Mules. At 10–1 in the fourth, a comeback was no longer possible and a victory for Tufts in the first of their two games was decided.
Where game one had begun with a quick and decisive lead from Tufts, in game two the Jumbos had no such luck. Through the first four innings, pitchers Will Cohen ’19 for Colby and Aidan Tucker for Tufts held the scoreboard hostage. Neither of the teams’ offenses were able to score a run. This scoreless beginning was not indicative of a lack of opportunities though, and in the first inning Colby left two men on the bases. In the second inning, the Mules missed an opportunity to take an early lead, leaving the bases loaded with no runs to show for it. In the fifth inning Mitchell and Luliano successfully imitated their one run from the first game, and a triple from Luliano gave Colby the lead for the first and only time in the two game series.
Up 1–0 in the top of the sixth inning, the Mules had their chance to end the season on a high note with an upset victory over the top ranked Jumbos. However, Tufts scored three runs and retook the lead. In the seventh and eighth innings, both teams were once again scoreless, but the Jumbos finalized a victory in the ninth with another four runs. The final score was 7–2 after a single by Mitchell score Andrew Sterup ’19.
While the Mules may have ended their season with a loss, a noticeable improvement over their performance in the first of the two games should be an inspiring note for the team as they look towards their 2020 season.
