WATERVILLE. ME – Wesleyan baseball qualifies for their 10
th NESCAC Tournament appearance in the school's history and first since 2018. The Cardinals earned the 3
rd seed in the in West Division with a 6-6 conference record, matching them up with the 2
nd seed in the East Division, the Colby Mules (8-4 NESCAC). Colby will host the games between the two conference foes on Saturday, with the first game at 12 pm and the 2
nd game being played at approximately 3:30 pm. If there needs to be a 3
rd game to decide who advances to the next round, it will be held at Colby on Sunday at 11 am. The NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinals is a best-of-three series between each pairing of schools. The winners of each series will move on to Championship Weekend at Trinity College from the 13
th through the 15
th. Championship Weekend will be a double elimination tournament where the matchups will be decided after the quarterfinals.
Wesleyan bounces back with their first winning season in four years, going 18-14 (6-6 NESCAC). After six straight winning seasons from 2013 through 2018 the Cardinals went 17-18 in 2019 and 5-7 in 2021 (no season in 2020). Wesleyan's 6-6 NESCAC record was good for 3
rd in the West Division, pairing them with the 2
nd seed in the East Division, Colby. Colby comes off a record breaking 2022 regular season, where they set a new mark for most wins in the regular season with 21.
The two teams did not match up in any games this season, meeting for the first time since 2016. In that most recent matchup the Cardinals took care of business in both games of their doubleheader, defeating the Mules 3-1 then 21-1. In their histories they have matched up 41 times, with the Cardinals taking 24 of them. Currently, Wesleyan is on an eight-game winning streak against Colby dating back to 1991. This will also be the first time these two have met in a NESCAC Tournament game.
Wesleyan is attempting to win their 3
rd ever NESCAC title, with their other two coming in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, they lost the opening game of the Mid-Atlantic Regional before reeling off four wins. They would end up falling to Baldwin Wallace 9-7 in the regional championship game. In 2015, the Cardinals lost in the quarterfinals of the New England Regional to MIT, going 2-2 overall. The Cardinals reached the regionals one more time in their history back in 1994. They made it as far as the World Series Final, falling to Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the championship game. Wesleyan looks to get back to the regionals for the 4
th time in school history this weekend.
Coming into the opening weekend of the NESCAC Championships, the two teams have been moving in opposite directions. Wesleyan finished the season by getting swept by Middlebury 3-0 this weekend, while Colby comes in winners of their last five games.
(#3 WEST) WESLEYAN: 18-14
Wesleyan enters their 10
th NESCAC Tournament, looking for their 3
rd NESCAC Conference Championship in school history. Wesleyan found their way into the NESCAC Tournament thanks to their ability to score runs. The Cardinals rank 3
rd in the NESCAC in runs scored at 266, while placing 5
th in the conference in batting average (.294). Another strength of the Cardinals batters is their ability to draw walks, drawing 153 this season which ranks 1
st among NESCAC teams. They are led by
Wes Fritch '22, who leads the team in runs (37), hits (40), doubles (7), and RBI (27). They also have
Adam Geibel '22 who leads the team with a .364 batting average to go with his 20 RBI and
Dylan Judd '22 who provides some pop batting .294 while leading the team in home runs with four. On the mound, it's a pitcher by committee situation. The Cardinals use the most pitchers in the conference but will most likely rely on their trio of
Scott Shield '22,
Alex Deutsch '25 and
Ian Appleby '24 who have logged the most innings of work on the Cardinals pitching staff. That same trio leads the team in WHIP, as well as owns three of the top four lowest ERA's among eligible pitchers for Wesleyan. They will most likely start with Shield in game one Saturday, the 6'6 right hander currently has the 3
rd lowest ERA among NESCAC pitchers with a 3.40 ERA.
(#2 EAST) COLBY: 21-11
Colby is coming off a regular season in which they broke the school record for most wins in a regular season with 21. The Mules have been a bottom of the barrel team in the NESCAC since the early 2010s, however have showed major improvement over the last two full seasons going 12-10 in 2021 and now their record breaking 21-11 2022 regular season. Colby has seen increased production from their offense and pitching in 2022 leading to one of their best seasons in the NESCAC. They are batting .306 as a team, ranking 3
rd in the NESCAC, while scoring 256 total runs which ranks right behind Wesleyan for 4
th in the conference. Individually they are led at the plate by the trio of Brady O'Brien, Cole Palmeri and Marcus Forrester. O'Brien leads the team in batting average (.368), OPS (1.087), hits (43), doubles (12), total bases (69), and slugging percentage (.590). Palmeri provides the power for the Mules, leading them with 7 home runs and 37 RBI while Forrester does a bit of everything while leading the teams in runs with 39. While only posting a 5.85 ERA which ranks 5
th in the NESCAC, the Mules pitchers have held opponents to the 3
rd least amount of runs in the NESCAC (197) as well as holding teams to the lowest batting average in the conference (.257). The Cardinals will most likely see Nicholas Thompson, a left-handed pitcher who led the conference in ERA (2.36) as well as being top five in the NESCAC in strikeouts with 37 despite pitching less innings than nearly everyone else in the top 10 (34.1 IP).
BOTTOM LINE:
Wesleyan and their high-scoring offense will have to go up against one of the best pitchers in the conference in Thompson. Wesleyan will have to have stellar pitching performances from their men on the mound as well as a solid effort in the field (65 errors t-most in NESCAC) if they want to overcome the Mules in Maine.
