The Wesleyan baseball team had a triumphant weekend, as everything fell into place to propel the Cardinals into the postseason. Most importantly, the Cards showed outstanding resilience, as they beat Middlebury 9-6 in Vermont in a must-win situation. The rest of Wesleyan’s fate rested on the shoulders of Hamilton and Williams, both of which needed to beat Amherst in order for the Cardinals to snag second place and a playoff berth. Hamilton pulled off the upset on Saturday and Williams prevailed on Sunday as the Lord Jeffs dissolved into third place, putting Wesleyan into the postseason for the first time since 2005.

“Obviously Hamilton and Williams helped us out, but as far as I am concerned, we earned our spot in the playoffs,” said Jon Sheehan ’11.

The Cardinals got a taste of their first-round tournament opponent on Sunday as they played a doubleheader at Trinity. The men lost the first game but were victorious in the second, handing Trinity only its fifth loss of the season. Wesleyan will head to North Adams, Mass. on Friday to challenge the Bantams again in the NESCAC tournament.

Wesleyan got off to a great start on Saturday, as the Cards plated three runs in the top of the first. Drew Dominguez ’09 walked and Julian Sonnenfeld ’11 followed with a base hit, sending Dominguez to second. Brice Kelly ’10 hit an RBI single, driving Dominguez home with the first run. Sonnenfeld scored next on Alex Meadow’s ’12 single down the leftfield line as Kelly was out at second. Meadow stole second base and both Garrett Lamborn ’09 and Jeff Bizinkauskas ’10 were walked to load up the bases. Sheehan worked a walk, bringing Meadow home, before the inning ended on a groundout.

Middlebury closed in on the Cardinals’ lead, with single runs in both the second and the third, but the men responded in the top of the fifth with two to take a 5-2 lead. Trouble began for the Cards in the bottom of the sixth, however. The Panthers scored once before Brett Yarusi ’12 replaced Dusty Mones ’09 on the mound. Yarusi was able to get out of the inning, but not before Middlebury had taken a 6-5 lead, with all five runs charged to Mones. The Wes men needed to pull together in order to keep their playoff hopes alive—and in the eighth inning, they did just that.

Derek Dettorre ’11, pinch-hitting for Brandyn Cooper ’12, walked to begin the inning. Kyle Weiss ’12 pinch-ran for Dettorre, and Dominguez and Sonnenfeld both singled to load the bases. Kelly then singled up the middle, sending both Weiss and Dominguez home as Wesleyan took back the lead. Sonnenfeld and Kelly both moved up one base on a double steal, with Sonnenfeld scoring on an error by the Middlebury catcher. Meadow drove in Kelly with a single, and the inning ultimately ended with the Cards up 9-6. This clutch inning proved to be all Wesleyan needed as it went on to beat the Panthers on their own turf.

All the Cardinals could do on Sunday was concentrate on Trinity, even though Williams’ game against Amherst was more pertinent to Wesleyan’s fate. After losing the first game of the doubleheader, 9-5, the Cards held on for a 7-6 squeaker over the Bantams in the nightcap.

The men took a 6-1 lead over Trinity in game two, but the defending NCAA champion Bantams showed the resiliency that led them to a 45-1 finish in 2008, pulling within one run in the seventh. The score sat at 6-5 going into the ninth as Meadow singled and stole second. Lamborn then reached on an error by Trinity’s third baseman that allowed Meadow to score an insurance run. This proved crucial as Trinity hit a sacrifice fly to again pull within one in the bottom of the ninth. Wesleyan held on and beat the Bantams, 7-6, in the process becoming only the second Wesleyan team ever to defeat a NESCAC national champion. (Field hockey is the other, having defeated defending titlist Middlebury 2-1 in 1999.) The team is now looking ahead to the NESCAC playoffs.

“As we showed against Trinity, we are just as talented as any team in the NESCAC tournament and we’ll be playing with nothing to lose,” Sheehan said.

The team truly pulled together this season as the seniors and newcomers bonded. 

“One of the wonderful things about this season has been that the seniors have played great and mentored the younger players, and the younger players have helped the seniors by working hard and getting better and being key contributors,” said Head Coach Mark Woodworth ’94.

Next season, the men will be without Dominguez, who proved to be an integral part of the squad. With four hits against Trinity, he ended with 59 on the year, breaking the seasonal record of 56 that he set last year. He also moved into second place on the all-time career hits list.

Wesleyan and Trinity will match up against one another again on Friday while Williams hosts Tufts. The double-elimination tournament will continue into the weekend.

“Given the way we entered the playoffs and have performed all season, our team is feeling little pressure and much confidence,” Bizinkauskas said. “We know exactly what is possible and exactly what we need to do to achieve it.”