WATERVILLE, Me. – The Wesleyan baseball team suffered two defeats to Colby on Saturday, as the Cardinals see their 2024 season come to an end in the NESCAC Quarterfinal round series. The Cardinals (21-13) lost 8-1 and 6-5 (10 innings) to the Mules in the best-of-3 series.
Game one saw the Cardinals run into a great pitching display turned in by Colby's starting pitcher Derek Woods and reliever Ryan Grecco. Between the two, the Mules allowed just one run on six hits with 12 strikeouts in the 8-1 game one win.
After seeing Colby go up 1-0 in the 1
st inning, Wesleyan tied the score on a
Cole Torino '24 RBI single in the 2
nd. Wesleyan appeared to have taken the lead as
Christian Boudreau '25 lifted a line drive to center field, but
Luke LaSaracina '25 was deemed to have left third base early on the tag up and was called out on the play.
Colby then pushed four runs across in the 3
rd inning, as the first five batters in the inning all reached base safely to make it 5-1 Colby after three. It was soon 6-1 Colby and Woods and Grecco finished the job in the 8-1 win.
Torino was the lone Cardinal with two hits in game one.
Tanner Mahon '27 threw 1.1 scoreless innings in relief with one strikeout and no hits allowed.
Game two was a back-and-forth battle with neither side leading by more than two runs for the entire contest.
Jack Nally '24 singled home a run in the 2
nd to put the Cardinals ahead 1-0. Cardinal starter
Matt Spada '26 allowed two unearned runs in the 4
th as Colby took a 2-1 lead.
Wesleyan tied the score in the 5
th and took a 4-2 lead in the 6
th as
James Marsden '26 doubled to score
Will Moore '26 all the way from first. Torino then came through with a bunt that forced the Colby pitcher into an error, allowing Marsden to score from third.
After the Mules got one run back in the bottom of the 6
th, Wesleyan had a big opportunity in the 7
th as
Ernie Little '26 doubled to right center to lead off. After
Matt Halas '24 was hit by a pitch,
Evan Diaz '24 sacrificed both runners over into scoring position with one out. After a fielder's choice out, LaSaracina walked to load the bases for Moore who grounded into a fielder's choice out at second to end the inning.
Seizing momentum, Colby took the lead in the 7
th, scoring two runs, but
David Tirrell '25 did well to escape without further damage as he induced a line out to end the inning with the Mules stranding runners on second and third.
The Cardinals tied the score in the 8
th, scoring the game-tying run on a passed ball. Tirrell worked scoreless 8
th and 9
th innings, sending the game into extra innings.
After retiring the side in-order in the top of the 10
th, Colby put the game away with a walk-off sacrifice fly from Brady O'Brien as the Mules advance to the NESCAC Championship weekend.
Wesleyan completes the 2024 season with 21 wins, their highest win total in a season since 2018.