MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Wesleyan baseball team brought out the brooms on Saturday as the Cardinals swept Middlebury, 9-3 and 8-4, in a road doubleheader to vault back into contention in NESCAC West Division play. Wesleyan (4-4) generated 17 runs on 20 hits combined in the two games from Forbes Field.

HIGHLIGHTS GAME 1 (W, 9-3)

• Middlebury struck first in resounding fashion as Sammy Smith drove a leadoff home run to deep center field as the Panthers led 1-0 after one
• Wesleyan loaded the bases with no one out in the second, plating two on a Dylan Judd '22 two-run single back up the middle as the Cardinals took their first lead at 2-1
• The first Wesleyan home run of 2021 came in the third as Jack Nally '24 touched all four bags on a homer to left
• More Cardinal runs came in the third as Eddie Zanor '23 executed a double steal with Ryan Molinari '22 as the sophomore Zanor came across with Molinari taking second on the play to make it 4-1
• Two more Wesleyan runs came in as the four-run third was completed by a two-run single from Caden Grider '24 that scored Kyle Sylvester '22 and Ricky Finkel '23 and the Cardinals led 6-1
• After six games without a home run, Wesleyan added their second of the game as this time it was Zanor who went deep for the Cardinals, blasting one over the center field fence to hand Wesleyan a six-run lead
• Finkel factored in the final two Wesleyan runs as he laced a double to left that scored Zanor and Adam Geibel '22 that pushed the Cardinal lead to 9-2 in the sixth

NOTES

• Wesleyan tied their season-high with 11 hits while plating a season-best nine runs in the win
• Four of the 11 hits went for extra bases including two home runs with two doubles
• Nally upped his hit streak to start his collegiate career to seven games as the first-year went 2-for-4 while posting his first career home run
• Zanor reached base in all four plate appearances as he walked twice and went 2-for-2 with three runs and his first career home run
• Finkel also had two hits as the sophomore went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and two runs scored
• Judd and Grider each collected 2 RBI while Judd walked twice as he reached base safely on three of his four plate appearances in the game one win
• On the mound, Coleton Reitan (3-0) went 4.0 innings with two runs allowed on four hits with eight strikeouts and no walks
• Reitan now has a team-leading 26 strikeouts in 13.2 innings pitched this season while he commanded the strike zone throughout play with his 8 K's on no walks
• In his first two starts of the season, Reitan registered 14 walks in 9.2 innings as he corrected his command issues with no walks in 4.0 innings on Saturday
• Graham Gilchrist '23 was brilling in his first career appearance on the mount for Wesleyan, tossing 2.0 shutout innings with no hits, one walk and three strikeouts
• Chris Coll '24 finished the game with one run allowed in 1.0 inning with two strikeouts as the pairing of Gilchrist and Coll allowed just one run in 3.0 innings of relief work

HIGHLIGHTS GAME 2 (W, 8-4)

• Zanor continued his torrid day at the plate as he stepped up and drove in Geibel from second with an RBI single to right before Finkel drilled an RBI double down the left field line to make it 2-0 Wesleyan before Middlebury had their first at-bats
• The score remained 2-0 Cardinals into the third when the Panthers scored twice to tie the game as Mitchell Schroeder and Baker Angstman each came up with run-scoring singles
• Wesleyan wasted no time in reclaiming their lead as Matt Halas '24 came in to score on a wild pitch, and later in the inning Sylvester singled with two outs and the bases loaded to score both Geibel and Zanor as Wesleyan led 5-2
• The Cardinals added to their advantage, again with two outs, in the sixth when Grider plated a run with a single to right
• Middlebury managed to cut the Wesleyan lead down to 6-3 to end the sixth but two insurance runs came in the seventh as Zanor singled to left that scored Halas and Jimmy Clifford '23 followed with a suicide squeeze play to score Geibel from third and make it 8-3 Wesleyan
• Pitching into the seventh, Middlebury finally chased the Cardinal starter Pat Clare '19, 21 but not before loading the bases with one out. Adam Bowler '23 entered in relief and allowed one hit before shutting the door on a Middlebury comeback with a foul out and groundout back to the mount to cap the Wesleyan sweep of the Panthers

NOTES

• Geibel, Zanor and Finkel combined for six of the nine Wesleyan hits in game two
• Geibel went 2-for-3 with a double, three runs and one walk as the junior reached base in three of his four plate appearances while scoring three of the eight runs for Wesleyan
• Zanor added to his impressive game one totals with a 2-for-3 showing in game two that included three runs, two RBI and two walks
• In the two games combined, Zanor went 4-for-5 with one home run, six runs, three RBI, one stolen base and four walks
• Zanor's classmate Finkel was stellar in game two, going 2-for-2 with one double, one RBI and two walks in the nightcap as the sophomore combined to go 4-for-5 with three doubles, three RBI, two runs and two walks
• Both Finkel and Zanor were each retired just once in all their plate appearances combined (15-of-17) on the doubleheader
• Sylvester drove in two runs in game two while Halas hit a double, walked, was hit-by-a-pitch and scored two runs
• Clare picked up his first win of 2021 as he went 6.1 innings allowing five hits, four runs (two earned) with just one walk and nine strikeouts
• Clare's nine strikeouts matched a career-high
• Nally's hit streak came to an end at seven games although he did walk once to move his on-base streak up to eight games

UP NEXT
Wesleyan will enjoy an off weekend before taking on Williams in a three-game series opening on Saturday, May 1 with a road doubleheader before a nine-inning bout on Sunday, May 2 from Dresser Diamond.