Hartford, Conn. - The Trinity College Bantams dropped the first game of a New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division baseball three-game series, 8-0, to the visiting Tufts University Jumbos this afternoon on Murren Family Field at DiBenedetto Stadium.  Trinity drops to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in the NESCAC, while the Jumbos improve to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the division.  The teams will complete the series tomorrow at Tufts with a pair of seven-inning doubleheaders.  The Bantams need to win both to finish first in the division and qualify for the NESCAC Championship series next weekend.  Tufts wins the division with one win tomorrow.  Senior co-captain Alex Rodriguez (Windsor, Conn.) had two hits for the Bantam offense.

Junior RHP Michael Volgende (Ridgefield, Conn.) earned the win, allowing six hits and striking out six with no walks over seven innings.  The Jumbos scored once in the first inning on an RBI single by Brandon Bay (Encinitas, Calif.) and put runners on third base in the third and fourth frames only to see Trinity junior starter Cameron Crowley (Downers Grove, Ill.) strike out a Jumbo for the third out each time.  Tufts got three unearned runs on three Trinity errors in the fifth inning, and broke the game open with three more in the sixth.  Trinity made a bit of noise in the seventh inning with singles by Rodriguez and first-year 2B Bennett Teceno (Centerville, Mass.), but did not advance a runner past second base in the game.  Crowley went 5.1 innings and allowed three earned runs to take the loss.