WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – Wesleyan saw a late lead disappear in game one, only to come back and defeat the host Williams in game two as the Little Three rivals split a Saturday doubleheader at the Bobby Coombs Field.
The Cardinals led 2-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth in game one but the Ephs plated five in the inning to land a come-from-behind 6-3 win in game one. Wesleyan allowed two first inning runs in game two only to hold Williams scoreless in the remainder of play, allowing the offense to seize the lead and a 6-2 victory in game two.

Jack Nally '24 reached base five times throughout the doubleheader as he went 3-for-7 combined at the plate with one RBI, one double, one run and two walks. Pat Clare '19, '21 picked up the win in game two as he went the distance, going 7.0 innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. For the season, Clare has 30 strikeouts (2^nd in NESCAC) with just four walks across 23.2 innings.

Game 1 Highlights (L, 6-3)

• Game one starter Coleton Reitan '22 was dealing as he retired the first seven batters he faced and didn't allow a hit until the sixth inning
• Williams managed to plate a run without recording a hit as Kurt Oelschlager drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a fly out to center and later scored on a passed ball as the Ephs led 1-0 after four despite not recording a hit up to that point in the game
• After struggling to get anything going on offense against Williams' starter Sean Hogan, Wesleyan broke the shutout bid in the top of the sixth as Adam Geibel '22 battled in an over 10-pitch at-bat and smacked a liner to the gap in right center that was misplayed by the Ephs right fielder, allowing the go-ahead runs to score and make it 2-1 Wesleyan
• Trying to hold the lead, Wesleyan saw Williams plate five runs in the bottom half of the sixth as the game-tying run came across on a Oelschlag double to right center and the go-ahead run was scored on a bases loaded walk to Erik Mini. Insurance came in the form of a Nate Orluk two-run triple and a RBI single from Philip Barnett suddenly made it 6-2 Ephs
• Wesleyan brought the game-tying run to the plate in the seventh as Nally recorded an RBI infield single that made it 6-3 but Ryan Molinari '22 popped up to first to end the game

NOTES

• Both pitchers dominated for large portions of game one as Hogan (10) and Reitan (eight) combined for 18 strikeouts
• Hogan moved to 3-1 on the season with a great performance that saw him go 6.2 innings with just two hits and three runs (one earned) allowed on three walks and 10 strikeouts
• Command issues cost Reitan as he issued six walks which led to six runs (five earned) in 5.1 innings as he only gave up two hits while striking out eight
• Nally, Geibel and Torino recorded one hit apiece to account for the three Cardinal hits in game one
• Wesleyan played a clean game in the field with no errors, marking the second time on the season that the Cardinals have accomplished the feat

Game 2 Highlights (W, 6-2)

• Williams pounded out three hits in the first, two of which being doubles, as the Ephs took an early 2-0 lead
• Wesleyan was quick to respond, however, as in their next at-bats the Cardinals came back to tie the score. Walks to Eddie Zanor '23 and Matt Halas '24 set the stage for Caden Grider '24 who came through with an RBI single through the right side
• The bases were loaded with Cardinals and no one out in the third but Williams starter Nick Skiera worked his way out of the jam with two straight fielder's choice force outs at home followed by an inning-ending strikeout to keep the score tied
• The Cardinal defense saved a run in the third as a Mini double to right was gathered by Molinari in center, received by the relay man Halas at short and then gunned to Jimmy Clifford at the plate who tagged out Jakob Cohn trying to score from first
• Wesleyan took the lead on a fielding error in right field as Clifford scored from second on the play to give the Cardinals their first lead of game two, 3-2
• Clare worked his way out of trouble in the fifth as the Ephs put two runners on with two outs but the graduate student got Mini to strikeout swinging at a ball thrown in the dirt to preserve the one-run Cardinal lead
• After Wesleyan loaded the bases again in the sixth, and again came up empty, insurance runs finally came in the seventh as a three-run inning boasted the lead up to four
• All three of those runs came with two outs as Grider walked and stole second before coming around on a Clifford one-handed RBI knock to right. Later in the inning, Molinari drove in a pair as he drove a double to center that scored Clifford and Nally to make it 6-2 Wesleyan
• Clare iced the game away with two straight strikeouts before getting Eric Pappas to groundout to Halas to finish the game

NOTES

• Nally and Molinari led the Wesleyan offense with two hits and one double each
• The seven, eight, nine hitters in the Wesleyan lineup combined to go 3-for-8 with four runs, two RBI and four walks in game two
• Clifford went 1-for-2 with two runs, one RBI and two walks
• Grider went 1-for-3 with one run, one RBI and one walk while Halas went 1-for-3 with one run and one walk
• Clare pitched his best game of the season, throwing all seven innings for his first complete game of 2021 while giving up a season-low two runs and matching his season and career-high with nine strikeouts

UP NEXT
The rubber game of the three-game weekend series is set for Sunday with Wesleyan playing host for a nine-inning game set to begin at 2:30 PM.