TUCSON, AZ. – The Wesleyan baseball team erupted for a season-high 17 hits to score 14 runs in a 14-4 victory over the Carleton Knights Tuesday afternoon. The Cardinals got off to a quick start, scoring five runs in the 2^nd inning to take a 5-0 lead into the 3^rd. The Knights came back with three runs over the next two innings to trim their deficit to just two, but it was all Cardinals from there. Wesleyan pitching held the Knights to only one run over the final five innings while the Cardinals' bats got going again to add nine runs over their final four innings at the plate to reach the final score of 14-4. Wesleyan (5-5) gets back to .500 heading into the final day of their spring break trip, while Carleton falls to 2-6 with the loss.
 
HIGHLIGHTS:

• Eddie Zanor '23 got the start for the Cardinals in this one, putting down the Knights in order to open the game. In the bottom half, the Cardinals threatened with two men on but nothing came of it and the game went into the 2^nd tied at zero. After another 1-2-3 inning from Zanor, the Cardinals bats came to life. The first six men to step up to the plate for the Cards in the inning got on base, as they finished with five runs courtesy of five hits and three Knights' errors. The big hits of the inning came from Luke LaSaracina '25 who drove in one on an RBI-single, and Dylan Judd '22 who brought LaSaracina home on a  single to right field for Wesleyan's 5^th run of the 2^nd inning
• Carleton slowly worked their way back into the contest over the next two innings as their bats began to warm up. In the 3^rd they pushed one across on one hit, a hit batsman, a walk, and Wesleyan error. Then in the 4^th the Knights added two more, loading the bases before a fielder's choice ultimately allowed two more runs to reach home and the deficit was trimmed to 5-3 going into the 5^th
• In the bottom of the 5^th, Ernie Little '26 led off with a double followed by a Tyler Cosgrove '25 RBI-triple two batters later and the Cards were in business again. They would tack on one more on an error to lead 7-3. Wesleyan would continue to build on their advantage from there, scoring one in the 6^th on a sacrifice fly, followed by five more in the 7^th off six hits including a quartet of RBI-singles from Jack Carpenter '25, LaSaracina, Kyle Sylvester '22, and Judd to make it 13-3 moving into the 8^th. Each team would add one more run in the 8^th, and Ned Shapiro '26 closed it down in the 9^th to give Wesleyan the 14-4 win

NOTES:

• Ian Appleby '24 (5 IP, 7 H, 1 R (0 ER), 4 K's) got his first win of the season in relief of Zanor (3 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 K's). While Shapiro (1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER) closed it out in the 9^th for the Cards
• Carpenter (3-for-5, 3 RBIs, 2 R) had a career-high three RBI. He was one of three Cardinals with three-hit games with the others being LaSaracina (3-for-6, 2 R, 2 RBIs) and Cosgrove (3-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBIs)
• Little (2-for-2, 4 R) set a new Cardinals' season-high with 4 runs. Cardinals steal six total bases, with three players stealing two each
• Wesleyan outhit the Knights 17-11, leaving nine on base compared to Carleton's eight

UP NEXT:
The Cardinals will match up with the Knights again on March 23^rd for their second to last game in Arizona.