Trinity And Tufts Split Two Close Baseball Games

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Hartford, Conn. – Junior C Scott Cullinane (East Greenwich, R.I.) finished 3-for-8 for the day, including the game-winning, three run double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, to help the Trinity College Bantams down the visiting Tufts University Jumbos, 7-6, and salvage a split in a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division baseball twinbill this afternoon.  Trinity, which dropped the first game, 6-4, moves to 10-8 overall and 2-3 in the NESCAC East, ending a three-game losing skid while snapping Tufts' seven-game winning streak.  The Jumbos are now 16-5 overall and 3-2 in the division.  The games were the first played this season on Trinity's on-campus field, and the teams will finish the three-game set tomorrow at noon.

Trinity trailed, 6-3, after Tufts scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the sixth inning thanks to a two-run single by sophomore 2B Tom Petry (Worcester, Mass.), but the Bantams got one back in the bottom of the sixth on a solo homer by first-year OF Brendan Pierce(Hingham, Mass.), and solid relief by Trinity's Daniel Pidgeon (Darien, Conn.), Sam Jordan (Sherborn, Mass.), and Nicholas Fusco(Woodbridge, Mass.) allowed the home team to take its first lead in either game on Cullinane's clutch double in the eighth.  Pidgeon came in for senior tri-captain starter Sean Meekins (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), who allowed eight hits and three earned runs with six strikeouts and two walks over 6.1 innings, with two runners on in the seventh, and yielded two fly outs to end the Jumbo threat.  Jordan allowed an RBI single by Tufts sophomore Harry Brown (Beverly, Mass.) in relief of Pidgeon in the eighth frame but retired the last out with a runner on third, and Fusco recorded the final three outs with a runner on first base to save the game for Jordan who improved to 3-0.

In the Trinity eighth inning, senior tri-captain 1B Bryan Wolfe (La Habra Heights, Calif.) started things off with back-to-back free passes, and a sacrifice bunt by rookie 3B Tyler Forgione (North Branford, Conn.) and a walk by sophomore SS Nicholas DiBenedetto (Fort Myers, Fla.) loaded the bases for Cullinane, who was hitless in his first three at-bats but had gone 2-for-3 in game one.  Cullinane smacked a double off Tufts rookie reliever Zach Brown (Atlanta, Ga.), who had earned his third save in the first game, and DiBenedetto beat the relay to score the game-winning run from first.  Jordan gave up a lead-off single to Jumbo senior C Bryan Egan (Watervliet, N.Y.) in the ninth inning, but Fusco came in and induced a fly ball and a pop-double play.

In the first game, Tufts built a 5-1 lead after two innings on a two-out, two-run double by junior SS Matt Moser (Great Falls, Va.) in the first and an RBI single by senior OF Connor McDavitt (Holden, Mass.), and a two-run single by Egan in the second.  Trinity scored its first run in the bottom of the first frame on an RBI single by Wolfe.  Tufts scored once in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by senior James Howard (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), but Trinity rallied in the sixth inning with a two-out, three-run homer by rookie OF Ryan Vultaggio (Groton, Mass.) to pull with two runs at 6-4 with one inning left.  Bantam junior reliever Dylan Callahan (Greenwich, Conn.) and Jordan pitched out of trouble in the top of the seventh, and Wolfe and Pierce both walked in the bottom of the inning before Zach Brown recorded the final two outs in a strikeout and a swinging bunt recorded catcher to first.

Sophomore starter Tim Superko (Wellesley, Mass.) earned the win in the first game to improve to 4-2, scattering nine hits and allowing three earned runs with five K's and two walks over 5.2 innings, while junior LHP Jed Robinson (Winchester, Mass.) took the loss.  Egan finished 3-for-4 with a run and two RBI for Tufts, while Cullinane and rookie Matt Toth (New Canaan, Conn.) had two hits apiece for the Bantams.  Toth and Pierce both had a pair of hits in the nightcap, while Pierce also scored three times, and Vultaggio delivered a two-out, two run single in the second inning to total five RBI for the afternoon.  Egan, 2-for-3 in game two to finish 5-for-7 for the day, was one of four Jumbos with two hits in the second contest.  Callahan worked 2.1 scoreless innings for the Bantams in the first game, and junior starter Andrew David (Pacific, Mo.) allowed six runs but none earned over five innings in the second game.