After a tough start to the season, the Wesleyan men’s baseball team showed signs of why they are going to contend for a NESCAC title. The Cardinals lost to Western New England College Wednesday, but claimed victory in front of Thursday’s home crowd against Vassar.
The Cardinals came into Wednesday’s game with a staff ERA of 8.57, but against Western New England, five different pitchers combined to give up just five hits throughout the seven innings of play. Jason Vitko ’05 started on the mound and was relieved in the fourth inning by Charlie Munzig ’07, who threw one scoreless inning. Kit Tholen ’08, Tom Bloss ’05, and Andre Sternberg ’07 each threw one inning without giving up a run to the Golden Bear hitters. With pitching looking stronger, Alexander Brooks ’05, the team leader with eight RBIs, took it upon himself to churn out a 2-3 performance as well as make a great stop in the field with a ball playing off of his forehead to save a big hit.
Making up a non-conference game against Vassar, the men played their second home game of the season looking to get the bats going after a strong pitching performance the day before. Vassar was first to score, a run that came off of Wesleyan starter Kyle Lee ’07. Wesleyan retaliated by scoring their first run on an error in the third inning. In the fourth inning another Vassar error allowed the Cardinals to take a lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of game.
The men were looking to get some insurance on their lead and get their offense running on all cylinders when Alex Mautone ’07 hit a two run double in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“It felt good to break out,” said Mautone. “It was also encouraging to see a bunch of guys on our team put up big performances.”
The big performances came mainly in the seventh inning, when the Cardinals had the bases loaded with no outs. Mac Clonan ’05 hit a ground-rule double, and RBI singles by both Rob Couglin ’07 and Jason Vitko followed. In the end, the men won 9-3, with the last two Vassar runs coming from a late home run to left field. Lee was effectively relieved by Ben Brooks ’08, Tim Truncelito ’08, and Will Gordon ’05.
The Cardinals begin league play this Saturday at home with a doubleheader against Tufts, and they will travel to Tufts on Sunday to complete the weekend play with another doubleheader. The team still has high hopes for the season and is ready to compete against other NESCAC teams.
“I think this weekend is going to be a great test for us to see if we are a good enough team to compete in the NESCAC,” said Captain Tom Bloss ’05. “Tufts is a good ball club and we’re going to see if we belong with them. We believe that we do.”
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