With a sterling pitching performance, Tom Bloss ’05 led the Wesleyan baseball team to a 2-1 series victory over their Little Three rival Amherst Lord Jeffs. After throwing a masterful three hit shut out in the Cardinals’ opening game, Bloss came back on one day’s rest to pitch the final two innings in the Monday makeup game and lock down the 6-5 Wesleyan victory.
“I only threw 82 pitches [on Saturday] so coach said there was a good chance I might come back,” Bloss said. “It was a blessing in disguise that we had our game pushed back so I could get that extra day of rest.”
Monday’s game was still in question when Bloss entered the game in the eighth with the scored tied at five apiece. After Bloss retired the side, the Cardinals got a break when Amherst shortstop Zach Schoenberger fielded frosh Adam Kopiec’s groundball and threw it into the stands. The tiebreaking hit came two at bats later when frosh Alex Mauton ’07 lashed a one out double to right, scoring Kopiec.
While the team dropped the middle contest in a lackluster 6-0 defeat, the Cardinal men were able to take the series thanks to the strong pitching of Bloss and leadership of the team’s lone senior, Angus Fredenburg.
“Angus and Tom really led by example and with their words this weekend,” said right fielder Rob Coughlin ’07. “They got everybody ready to play in each game and both had amazing weekends. Gus set the tone on Saturday in the first inning with an amazing diving play. That really got everybody fired up for the rest of the game.
The Cards came out strong for game one as pitcher Bloss took the mound and posted one of his most impressive outings ever. Registering four strikeouts and allowing only three hits and one walk, Bloss completely shut down the Jeff’s offense.
”Tom pitched to perfection,“ said outfielder Jeff Maier ’06. ”Without his leadership on the mound, we couldn’t have won that first game as nicely as we did.“
Defensively the Cards were solid, and their offense rose to the challenge of putting runs on the board.
The third inning smiled upon Wes as Coughlin doubled, moving Maier into scoring position. Maier went home on a fielder’s choice by shortstop Fredenburg and Coughlin followed shortly after thanks to a single by left fielder Alexander Brooks ’06.
Those two runs were enough as the Cardinals prevailed in a tough one 2-0.
Game two saw the Cardinals let down their guard as they watched the Jeffs get into their groove.
With the help of Amherst frosh Brian Donahue’s pitching and heavy hitting, Amherst was able to pull out the second game by tripling the Cardinals’ previous score. Offensively the Cards were not seeing the ball as well as usual, and the defense was hurting as starter Eric Wdowiak ’06 could not find his groove.
In game three the Cardinals found themselves in a tight battle. Both starting pitchers had rough first innings, with the scoreboard showing a 3-2 advantage for the Lord Jeffs after one frame.
After being held to two singles in the first two games, Brooks relocated his power stroke in the third inning when he launched a towering home run into the left field parking lot. Both offenses failed to produce further scoring after the fifth, providing for the dramatic moment of Bloss’s return to the mound.
”Tom Bloss was just untouchable,“ Coughlin said. ”On Saturday he pitched the game of his life, and then he came back two days later to pick up the win at the end of Game 3. You could tell the Amherst guys weren’t happy to be seeing him again.“
The two day effort lowered Bloss’ ERA from 4.22 to 2.29 on the season.
”The team is starting to come together,“ Bloss said. ”We have lots of freshman on this team who are starting to perform and the upperclassman are really helping out. I just hope that my contributions can help this team get to the next level.“
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