An important three-game series for the baseball team against division rival Middlebury was cut short due to inclement weather on Saturday. Before the rains came, Wesleyan was inundated by a Panther offensive attack that accumulated 13 hits en route to a 9-1 rout of the visiting Cardinals. A pushover in recent years, the Panthers have started to fashion themselves as conference contenders, having taken two of three games earlier in the season against Williams.
“Middlebury is starting to realize what it takes to be successful in the NESCAC,” said captain Tom Bloss ’05. “They are starting to get good pitchers and really starting to recruit.”
Will Gordon ’05 was the principal victim of this fledgling offensive juggernaut as he got the starting nod from coach Mark Woodward. The senior southpaw was quickly roughed up for three runs before recording a second out. By the time the Cardinals had scratched out their first run in the seventh, they were in a 6-0 hole.
“They basically hit my mistakes,” Gordon said. “I would get ahead of their batters and then I would leave something out over the plate and they would hit it. Some of their batters lower in the lineup also got some key hits off me.”
Gordon was peppered for 11 hits and seven runs in seven innings of work but also had some defensive miscues behind him that contributed to the Panther’s deluge of runs. The chief culprit on Friday was third baseman Mark Noonan ’08. The hot corner has caused the Cardinals problems for much of the season, and on Friday the frosh manning the position made four miscues that contributed to three unearned runs.
At the plate, the Cardinals had plenty of opportunities to rally, but failed to cash in on numerous occasions. A week after wearing out the scoreboard against Williams, the Cardinals were still able to get on base, but they had trouble driving runners in. A total of 14 Cards were left stranded, including five men marooned on third base.
“The biggest problem for our offense is that we are leaving too many guys on base,” Gordon said. “If you leave that many people on, you aren’t going to be able to win too many baseball games.”
The lone Cardinal run came in the seventh when Jeff Maier ’06 scored on a groundout off the bat of Alexander Brooks ’06.
Despite the final score, the team did have some welcome developments at the top of their lineup. After missing a week’s worth of games, Anthony Gray ’06 returned to the lineup and led off the game with a sharp single up the middle. Gray had twisted his ankle after running past first in the game against Coast Guard last Wednesday, but the injury does not appear to bother the fleet right fielder.
“Anthony has been great for us all season,” Bloss said. “He adds versatility to our lineup with his speed and playmaking abilities. He also helps us out in our weakest department thus far, which has been our defense.”
The other bright spot for the Red and Black was the 3 for 5 performance from Maier, who finally appears to be getting comfortable in the batter’s box after a season long slump. With the three hit game, the recently converted first baseman lifted his average to .300 on the season. It was an encouraging sign for the junior first baseman who led the team with a .409 average last year.
The Cardinals will need continued production from the top of their lineup if they hope to make a move in the highly competitive NESCAC West. With the loss on Friday, the men now sport a 1-3 record in the division. A golden opportunity will present itself over the weekend as the cellar- dwelling Hamilton Continentals make a trip to Andrus Field. If the men can make hay in that series, it will give the team some momentum going into its rescheduled matches against Middlebury and Amherst.
“I have full confidence that we can sweep Hamilton and then we will have a good shot with what will be a five game series against Middlebury and Amherst,” Gordon said. “It’s going to take an effort from all nine guys in the lineup and our pitchers need to go out there and get wins.”
With a majority of their games against NESCAC teams still ahead of them, the team has the opportunity to get back in the race.
“We are just one clutch hit away from winning many of our games, one big play to make these losses turn into wins,” Bloss said. “It’s going to be tough, but I think we have the caliber team to pull it off.”
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