Baseball Falls to Tufts in NCAA Opener

MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Mitchell College baseball team suffered an 8-1 setback against Tufts University on the opening day of play at the 2016 NCAA Division III New England Regional on Wednesday at the Eastern Baseball Stadium.

Speros Varinos struck out a career-high 14 batters and scattered five hits over 8.2 innings to lead the third-seeded Jumbos past the sixth-seeded Mariners. Tufts jumped out to an early lead with five runs in the first inning and never looked back.

Tufts (33-6 overall) advances to a winners' bracket game on Thursday at 7:45 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday's late game between second-seeded SUNY Oswego and seventh-seeded host Eastern Connecticut State University. Mitchell (27-10 overall) plays an elimination game on Thursday at 1:15 p.m. against the Oswego-Eastern loser.

Varinos (7-1 overall) sailed into the ninth inning with a two-hit shutout – retiring 12 straight after Tristan Hurley led off the game with a single. Varinos gave up three singles in the ninth and got two out via strikeout before walking in a run. Rory Ziomek was summoned to close out the win with a game-ending strikeout.

Tufts hit up Mitchell starter Al Jordan Johnson (7-1 overall) for five runs in the first inning. The first six Jumbos reached base, with Tommy O'Hara's single to right plating the first two runs. A bases loaded walk made it 3-0 and two infield ground balls padded the margin to 5-0.

Tufts added a pair of runs in the second and chased Johnson from the game in the process. Reliever Eddie Santiago took the ball and worked out of the frame. He then kept Tufts scoreless over the next five innings to give the Mariners a chance to get back into the game.

Mitchell's offense couldn't take advantage as Varinos – the NESCAC Pitcher of the Year – struck out every batter in the lineup at least once. Hurley finished with two of his team's five hits while Chandler Whitney picked up the lone RBI with a walk in the ninth.

O'Hara and Matt Moser each had two hits and drove in a run for the Jumbos, with leadoff batter Harry Brown reaching three times with two hits and a walk and scoring two runs.

Johnson allowed seven runs (five earned) on four hits in 1.2 innings. Santiago gave up one run on seven hits and struck out a career-high eight batters in 5.2 innings of work.