CLINTON, N.Y. – In a roller coaster 24+ hours, the Wesleyan baseball team rebounded with a 10-2 win in game two to salvage a split in Saturday's doubleheader against Hamilton. The Cardinals (17-6, 5-4 NESCAC West) drop 2-of-3 in the weekend series against the Continentals (9-12, 3-6 NESCAC West) but remain above .500 in league play with one weekend series remaining in the regular season.
After falling to the Continentals 15-5 on Friday to start the weekend series, Wesleyan suffered a 24-3 defeat in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. The Cardinals managed four hits in that seven-inning contest with
Evan Diaz '25 hitting a sacrifice fly in the 1
st inning that gave Wesleyan a 1-0 lead before Hamilton plated 15 unanswered runs over the next four innings. Hamilton added nine more in the 6
th to earn a convincing win.
Despite being outscored 39-8 through the first two games of the weekend series, the Cardinals battled back and claimed a 10-2 win in game two on Saturday to avoid the weekend series sweep.
David Tirrell '25 was outstanding on the mound, limiting the Continentals to just six hits and two runs (one earned) with six strikeouts in seven innings of work.
Matt Spada '26 came on in the 8
th and tossed a perfect inning in relief with two strikeouts as the game was called after eight innings due to darkness.
The score was tied 1-1 heading into the 3
rd where the Cardinals scored six runs in the top half.
Ernie Little '26 led off with a single and with the bases later loaded with one out, an error brought one run in and
Luke LaSaracina '25 was hit-by-a-pitch on the next at-bat to score another. A wild pitch made it 4-1 and
Connor Sullivan '26 lifted a sacrifice fly to center that plated another run. Now with two outs and two runners on,
Jack Nally '24 came through with a two-run triple to left center as Wesleyan led 7-1.
Hamilton plated one run in the 4
th but Tirrell limited damage with an inning-ending double play in the 5
th and he escaped a bases loaded jam in the 6
th with an inning-ending strikeout.
LaSaracina homered down the right field line in the 7
th, giving him three home runs on the season, all of which coming in the past eight games. Tirrell followed with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half to finish off his outing with a perfect frame.
The Cardinals tacked on one more run in the 8
th as
Cole Torino '24 singled to right and later came in from second on a Diaz RBI single up the middle. Marsden plated one more run to make it 10-2 on a sacrifice bunt back to the mound in the same inning.
Wesleyan plated 10 runs on just seven hits, benefitting from nine walks, one hit-by-pitch, and four Hamilton errors in the eight-inning game.
Diaz went 1-for-3 with two walks, 1 RBI, and two runs scored while LaSaracina homered and totaled 2 RBI, with two runs, and one walk.
The Cardinals return to action with a mid-week non-league game against Trinity on Wednesday at 4 PM from Dresser Diamond.