WILLIAMSTOWN, MA - Winners of its last 12 of 13 games, the Williams College baseball team is playing its best ball at the right time of the season.The Ephs will look to ride that momentum to the 2010 NESCAC Tournament championship this weekend in the eastern part of the state.
Tufts University will look to earn its second conference crown this weekend when the Jumbos host the 2010 NESCAC Baseball Championship. The three-day tournament pits the top two teams from the East and West Divisions against one another in a double-elimination style format. The action begins on Friday afternoon with Tufts taking on Wesleyan at Huskins Field in Medford, Mass., while Bowdoin will meet Williams at Bentley University in Waltham. The 2010 NESCAC Baseball Championship concludes on Sunday, May 9.
"I feel it's an open tournament — anybody can win it," Ephs' head coach Bill Barrale said. "We've been coming back and winning games all year, which is to our advantage now, because we believe we can win any game at any time. Something else that I feel plays to our advantage this time of year is our pitching depth."
The Ephs’ two conference crowns have both come against the Jumbos, as Williams defeated Tufts 8-5 in the inaugural tournament in 2001 and by the same score for the 2007 championship. Last May, Williams opened in game one with an 18-5 win over Tufts but later suffered a season-ending loss to the Jumbos in game five, 15-9. Among this weekend’s opponents, Williams has only faced Wesleyan but earned a sweep against the Cardinals by winning all three meetings.
The Ephs feature the best offense in the conference with a combined .357 batting average, recording 71 doubles and 34 triples through 33 games. Two-time All-NESCAC honoree Al Mathews (North Hampton, N.H.) has put up impressive numbers in his senior season. The outfielder leads the league in batting with a .507 average and 68 hits. He has also reached base at a .543 percent clip. Junior teammates Pat Barren (Worthington, Ohio) and James Allison (Amherst, Mass.) are also among the top hitters in the league at the moment, as Barren’s .427 average is just above Allison’s .426.
Senior Paul Burgdorf leads the Williams' pitching staff with a 2-3 record and a 3.48 ERA. In 34 innings, he's allowed 34 hits and only eight walks while striking out 34. Sophomore Eddie Nadel leads the Ephs with 38 2/3 innings. He is 3-1 with a 4.19 ERA.
"We have to pitch well and we have to field well," Barrale said. "That's what we've been doing pretty consistently during the win streak. We've hit well all year long, but if we don't pitch or field well, it won't matter who we play."
Tufts (28-5, 10-2 NESCAC East) is in the midst of a record-breaking season. Since returning from spring break, the Jumbos have gone 20-3 with an 11-game winning streak at one point. Tufts locked up hosting duties in this year’s tournament by taking two-of-three games against Bowdoin on April 23-24. On Tuesday afternoon, Tufts extended its current unbeaten streak to seven as it downed Bentley 13-7 and established a new program record for wins in the process with its 28th. Although the Jumbos have only one NESCAC championship to their credit, that being the rain-shortened 2002 tournament, they join Trinity as having the most appearances in the final with five.
Pitching has been a key to tournament success in recent years and the Jumbos appear poised to capitalize with the benefit of their strong arms. Dave Ryan (Trumbull, Conn.), Derek Miller (Whitman, Mass.) and Pat O’Donnell (Worcester, Mass.) highlight the Tufts’ staff and are a combined 11-3 as regular starters. Ryan owns a solid 3.09 ERA, while Miller has a 3.43 ERA as he has held opponents to a .238 average. O’Donnell is not far behind his counterparts with a 4.32 ERA over 10 appearances. From the bullpen, sophomore Chris DeGoti (Miami, Fla.) has been reliable when needed. In 15 appearances, DeGoti has recorded a single-season record nine saves and is 1-1 with a 0.57 ERA.
After appearing in the NESCAC championship for the first time in four years last spring, Wesleyan (22-12, 7-5 NESCAC West) returns with the most wins in a single season since 1994. Statistically, Wesleyan features an offense that ranks just behind Williams among conference squads with a combined .351 average and a league-leading on-base percentage of .454. Leading the Cardinals has been the dependable bat of junior Julian Sonnenfeld (Aberdeen, N.J.). With a batting average of .437 and an on-base mark of .543, Sonnenfeld has already set the single-season mark for doubles at Wesleyan with a conference-best 25 to date. He also ranks among the league leaders in hits (55), home runs (8), walks (32), runs scored (51) and runs batted in (49). On the mound, sophomore Brett Yarusi (Belmar, N.J.) has earned a 7-2 record over nine starts with a 3.44 ERA.
Bowdoin (23-13, 6-6 NESCAC East) grabbed the last spot in this year’s championship by taking two-of-three games from Bates during the final weekend of the regular season. While the Polar Bears are seventh statistically in offense with a team average of .311 at the plate, the pitching staff is among the best in the league with a 4.29 ERA and an impressive average of 8.25 strikeouts per nine innings. Senior Carter Butland (Columbus, Ohio) and freshman Oliver Van Zant (Westport, Conn.) head up a group that hopes to silence their opponents’ bats this weekend. Butland sits atop the list of NESCAC hurlers with a 2.57 ERA and a 3-2 overall record. Van Zant has enjoyed a successful rookie campaign, owning an even 3.00 ERA with a 5-1 mark and 51 strikeouts over seven appearances, nearly 12 K’s per game.
2010 NESCAC BASEBALL
CHAMPIONSHIP
Day 1 - Friday, May 7
Game 1 - W2 Wesleyan at E1 Tufts - 3:00 p.m. - at Tufts, Medford,
Mass.
Game 2 - E2 Bowdoin vs. W1 Williams - 3:00 p.m. - at Bentley,
Waltham, Mass.
Day 2 - Saturday, May
8
Game 3 - Loser of GM 1 vs. Loser of GM 2 - 10:30 a.m. - at
Bentley, Waltham, Mass.
Game 4 - Winner of GM 1 vs. Winner of GM 2 - 10:30 a.m. - at
Tufts, Medford, Mass.
Game 5 - Winner of GM 3 vs. Loser of GM 4 - 2:30 p.m. - at Tufts,
Medford, Mass.
Day 3 - Sunday, May
9
Game 6 - Winner of GM 4 vs. Winner of GM 5 - 10:00 a.m.
Game 7 - If Necessary - Immediately Following
