Baseball continues to roll through its dominant season, defeating NESCAC East opponent Bates twice on Sunday, April 14. The doubleheader gave the team a chance to test its mettle against a team laboring near the bottom of the NESCAC East standings. By all accounts, the Cardinals passed the test with flying colors, as they flourished with timely hitting and some terrific pitching performances.
The first game of the doubleheader will go down as one of the most exciting games of the season, as Wes scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 victory. The second game was more lopsided, as Wes again coupled a strong offensive performance with convincing turns on the mound to gift the fans an exciting 7-2 win.
Credit ace Jeff Blout ’14 and reliever Nick Cooney ’15 for keeping Wes close in the opener. Both of the pitchers displayed terrific poise in their roles, as Blout limited the visitors to eight baserunners in five innings and only three earned runs. Cooney fared slightly better in his four innings of work, holding the Bobcats to five runners in his four innings while allowing no runs and striking out five.
As strong as Bates looked, Wes entered the eighth trailing by just two and ready to rally. Andrew Yin ’15 singled to start off the inning, followed by two consecutive hit batsmen and a wild pitch to put one run on the board. An intentional walk and a fielder’s choice left Wes with two outs and the bases loaded as Steve Moran ’13 came to the plate. With two strikes, he blasted a ball to right field, and the Cards plated both the tying and go-ahead runs on one swing. Cooney pitched a scoreless ninth, and the Cardinals secured the victory.
In the second leg of the doubleheader, Wesleyan jumped out to a five-run lead in the first and was never threatened. The pitch-by-committee methodology worked well for Wes, as four different pitchers combined to stymie the Bobcats. Gavin Pittore ’16 started the game for Wes and put in three solid innings of work before turning it over to Kai Kirk ’16, who gave up an unearned run in 4.1 innings. When Kirk came out, Sam Elias ’15 hopped in for a flawless inning, and Wilson Flower ’16 went in to pitch the final two thirds. Again Moran led the hit parade, collecting two himself in addition to an RBI. Jonathan Dennett ’15 also had two hits and chipped in with an RBI and a run. Donnie Cimino ’15 added the lone extra base hit for Wes, a two-bagger that knocked in two.
“When you have a group of guys that are this cohesive, and you are getting everyone to contribute in some way, the burden isn’t really on any one individual,” said Chris Law ’14. “If we keep playing like this, with everyone helping out in their different roles, our goal remains the same: to win a NESCAC championship.”
When asked about the possibility of advancing past NESCACs to the national Division III tournament, Law remained grounded.
“I mean, obviously that would be nice, to get there, but that isn’t our focus right now,” he said.
The Cards return to action against MIT at home on Tuesday, April 16 before traveling to take on Coast Guard on Wednesday, April 17.