MEDFORD, Mass. – The Nichols College baseball team suffered a pair of setbacks at Tufts University on Saturday afternoon in a non-league doubleheader in Medford, Mass. The Bison (6-14) dropped game one, 8-2, and fell to the Jumbos (9-8) in game two, 11-5.
 
Nichols opens up Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) play tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Roger Williams University for a doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m.
 
Game One – Tufts 8, Nichols 2
Junior Joe Assenza, sophomore Christian Naccari, senior Chris Anderson, and freshman Nathaniel Cormier each went 1-for-3, while senior Nick Roy went 1-for-3 with a run scored to lead the Bison. Sophomore Kyle Bouchard added a 1-for-2 day with an RBI and a run scored.
 
Freshman Justin Hurley suffered the setback, giving up eight runs (five earned) on 11 hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
 
After the Jumbos opened up a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third, Roy singled to lead off the fourth before stealing second and moving to third on a groundout by senior Cam Cook. Bouchard followed with an RBI single to left, and later scored on an error by the first baseman to cut the deficit to 5-2.
 
Tufts would answer with a run of its own in the bottom of the fourth before tacking on two more in the bottom of the sixth to give the game its final score of 8-2.
 
Game Two – Tufts 11, Nichols 5
The Nichols bats woke up in game two as four players registered multi-hit games against the Tufts led by a 2-for-4 day with two RBI from Roy. Anderson and Bouchard each went 2-for-4 with an RBI, with Bouchard hammering a homerun, while Joe Assenza went 2-for-5 with a triple and a run scored. Cormier and freshman Shay Souzaadded 1-for-4 days each with a run scored, while Cook drove in a run while scoring one as well.
 
Sophomore Andrew Charbonneau took the loss for the Bison, allowing six runs on five hits with six walks and three strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched. Freshman Dario Tarquinio followed by giving up five runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 3.0 innings of work, while senior Kevin Kirley wrapped up the game with a perfect inning pitched.
 
The Bison jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first as Assenza led off the game with a triple and later scored on an RBI groundout by Roy. Cook worked a walk, followed by a single from Bouchard, and Anderson drove in Cook with an RBI single down the right field line.
 
The Jumbos answered with two runs in their half of the first and added four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-2 lead.
 
Cook cut the deficit in half with a sacrifice fly to drive in Souza, but Tufts took an 11-3 lead after four more runs in the fifth and another run in the seventh. Roy answered with an RBI single in the top of the eighth that plated Cormier to make it 11-4, and Bouchard homered in the top of the ninth to trim the deficit to 11-5.
 
All-Time Series
Saturday's doubleheader marked the 11th meeting between the two teams, and the Jumbos hold a 7-4 edge in the series.