Over the weekend the Cardinals baseball team had another disappointing three-game series, dropping two of three to NESCAC West rival Middlebury.
Wesleyan started out the weekend on the right foot on Friday, with a commanding 5-1 win over the Panthers. The win was in large part due to the outstanding pitching of Louis Gabel ’08, who allowed a mere two hits and one unearned run in a stellar eight-inning effort.
The Friday game was a defensive showcase for the first six innings. Gabel and Middlebury pitcher Justin Wright threw well, and both teams were scoreless going into the seventh inning. In the seventh, the Cards were able to break up Wright’s perfect game with an RBI by Alex Mautone ’07, driving home Chris Simpson ’08. In the eighth, the Panthers finally got on the board, tying the game at one apiece on two Wesleyan errors.
In the final two innings, Kyle Lee ’07 came through in the clutch. After replacing Gabel, he blanked the Panthers the rest of the way. Lee’s closing ability gave the team the room it needed to inch ahead, as the Cards came through at the plate in the 10th inning.
Mautone worked the Middlebury pitcher for a one-out walk, representing what would turn out to be the winning run. He then scored off of a double by Chris Graceffa ’07. The Cards poured on a few more runs in the 10th, as Graceffa scored on a John DelGiudice ’07 double, and Adam Kopiec ’07 followed with an RBI triple and then scored on a well-placed bunt by Rob Coughlin ’07.
“We put in a great effort on Friday,” said second-baseman Daniel Poniatowski ’08. “Lou really shut them down, and we were able to get a key rally going late in the game. I think the fight we displayed winning a game like that really shows what this team is capable of.”
“Friday’s win was a huge step in the right direction,” said pitcher Jon Sargent ’09. “We showed a lot of promise in that first game of the series. Last year we would have buckled under that same situation, but on Friday we showed a lot of resilience and showed that we have the ability to win close games.”
Despite the encouraging win on Friday, the Cards dropped both ends of the next day’s doubleheader. Originally scheduled to be played at Middlebury, the games were held on Andrus Field, with Middlebury batting as the home team. The Cards fell in the first game in dramatic fashion, losing 17-1. In the final game of the series, the Cards were more successful on the mound but still could not muster offensive production, falling 4-0.
“It was tough to drop two games [on Saturday], but all we can do is look forward,” Poniatowski said. “Even though we’ve started out slowly in league play, we have the tools and the experience to do some big things over the remainder of the season. It was tough having a few opportunities slip through our fingers on our home field, but all of our focus is on the next game.”
The Cards will head to MIT tomorrow before playing another important three-game series this weekend against NESCAC foe Hamilton College.
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