TUCSON, AZ. – The Wesleyan baseball team completed their 2^nd game in three days against the Knights of Carleton College, falling by a score of 7-5. The Knights take game two, salvaging a split against the Cardinals who put together a season-high 17 hits in a victory in their first meeting two days ago. In this meeting, the Cards got out to a quick start scoring the first three runs of the game. The Knights came right back with three runs of their own, leading to a 3-3 game heading into the 5^th inning. After a run in the top half by the Cardinals to break the tie, the Knights responded with four straight runs over the next two innings to take their first lead of the contest. Wesleyan tried to fight back over the final two innings, but managed just one run to reach the final score of 7-5. Wesleyan picks up a loss in their second to last game in Arizona, falling to 5-6 on the early season. Carleton improves to 4-6 heading into their final day in The Grand Canyon State.
 
HIGHLIGHTS:

• The Cardinals offense started out hot with two straight hits. Matt Halas '24 singled to the left side, followed by a Luke LaSaracina '25 double to right field that gave Wesleyan two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Kyle Sylvester '22 then pushed a run across on a sacrifice fly and the Cardinals had a 1-0 lead. A walk and a hit by pitch loaded the bases, but the Knight's pitching was able to get them out of trouble
• Wesleyan added to their lead in the 3^rd, pushing across two more runs. After a pair of walks, Jack Nally '24 delivered the big hit, driving in two on a single to right field and it was 3-0 Cards. Carleton came right back with two of their own in the bottom half on two hits and a Wesleyan error. The Knights kept the bats going in the 4^th, eventually tying the game at three with an RBI-groundout
• Jimmy Clifford '23 broke the tie again in the 5^th, ripping an RBI-single towards third to make it 4-3. Carleton once again had a quick answer, scoring two on three hits in the bottom half to retake the advantage at 5-4. They would add on in the 6^th with an RBI-double to make it 6-4. The Knights capitalized on two more Wesleyan errors in the 7^th and pushed their advantage to three. Wesleyan came right back with a run in the 8^th on Sylvester's 2^nd sacrifice fly of the game to bring the deficit back down to two. After Carleton went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8^th, Wesleyan had one more chance in the top of the 9^th. The Cardinals got one on with a walk, but could not complete the comeback, as the Knights came away with a 7-5 victory

 
NOTES:

• AJ Karabenick '24 (3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 K's) pitched a solid final three innings for the Cardinals to keep the game within reach
• Halas (4-for-5, 1 R) finished with a career-high four hits on the day and now has six hits in his last two games. LaSaracina (2-for-5, two 2B) joined Halas as the only Cardinal to have multiple hits on the day
• The Knights outhit the Cardinals 12-10, with the Cardinals leaving a season-high 13 people on base

 
UP NEXT:
The Cardinals will play Oberlin on the final day in Arizona. This will be the third time in the teams' history that they will play each other with Wesleyan taking the first two meetings including a high-scoring 28-12 victory in 2018.