The baseball team took two out of three games from Middlebury this weekend, putting it in the midst of the NESCAC playoff race.
After watching a 2-0 lead disappear in the first game, the Cardinals came back from being down 5-3 to score seven runs in the bottom of the seventh. The highlight of the inning was a bases-loaded three-run triple by Joe Giaimo ’11, who scored on the play after an error by the Middlebury second baseman. Giaimo also notched up the win, after he came in to record the final out in the top of the seventh.
Michael Cifuentes ’10 finished it out for the Cardinals, pitching two scoreless innings to give Wesleyan the 11-5 victory.
After a big offensive day on Saturday, the teams came out Sunday for a doubleheader with very different results. Both teams struggled to put runs on the board, leading to a 3-1 Middlebury victory in the early game, followed by a 2-1 Wesleyan victory in the later game.
The pitching for the Cardindals was the story of the day, as Louis Gabel ’08, Eliezer Oberman ’11 and Jon Sargent ’09 combined to allow just 12 hits and one earned run in 16 innings.
Gabel allowed three unearned runs in a complete game loss in the first game. Wesleyan’s defense, which had been strong up to that point, committed three errors, including two in the three-run top of the third inning for Middlebury.
After a strong start by Oberman in the second half of the doubleheader, Sargent entered the game in the top of the fifth inning in a 1-1 tie with two outs and the bases loaded. He forced a ground out to end the inning, getting the Cardinals out of a big jam. Jeff Bizinkauskas ’10 hit an RBI-double to give Wesleyan a 2-1 lead, and Sargent did not relinquish it, allowing just two base runners the rest of the way.
“Sarge pitched a hell of a game,” Graham Douds ’08 said. “Hell of a game.”
After the weekend series, the Cardinals now sit in third place in the NESCAC West with a 3-3 conference record. However, they should be able to make up some ground as the two teams ahead of them, Williams (3-0) and Amherst (4-2), play a three-game series this weekend.
The Cardinals will travel to Hamilton this weekend to take on the 1-2 Continentals in a three-game set, against whom Wesleyan has won 19 of the last 21 games.
Before that, the Cardinals take on Elms College, a school with a young baseball program which the Cards beat 14-4 last year.
“It should be a good opportunity to get the bats back on track,” Douds said.
The game against Elms takes place tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m., at home on Andrus Field.
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