RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.—The Carleton College baseball team was swept by Dension University in a doubleheader on Thursday by scores of 11-1 and 6-0. The Knights’ season-opening slide now sits at six games. Jeff Dsida (Fy./Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) was the bright spot for the Knights, collecting three hits on the day to push his batting average to .389.
The games were played at the Epicenter, the home field of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ California League affiliate, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
The Knights drew first blood in the opener, tallying a run after the first two batters were retired. Alex Wirta (Jr./Corte Madera, Calif./Redwood) singled, advanced to second on a Dsida walk, and eventually came home on Kiyota Gomi’s (Jr./Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Ardsley) base hit.
The lead would be short-lived as Denison (5-5) answered in the bottom half of the inning with two runs off Carleton starter Jacob Anderson (Sr./Ramsey, Minn./Anoka). Anderson would settle down, cruising through the next four innings only allowing just two baserunners.
The Big Red chased Anderson (0-2) in the sixth inning as control problems led to him being charged with five runs despite not surrendering a hit. The frame featured five walks and two hit batters.
After scoring in the first, the Carleton (0-6) offense went cold once again. After allowing two hits in the opening frame, Denison starter David Holmes (1-0) yielded only two more singles as he went the distance for the victory.
In the second game, Denison stayed hot, scoring four runs (two earned) in the first inning off starter Paul Dimick (Jr./Northfield, Minn.). After allowing the early runs, Dimick (0-2) surrendered permitted only two more runs in a route-going effort. However, offensively Carleton failed to cross the plate, stranding five runners. Dension hurler Tyler Vaske notched the Big Red’s second complete game of the day, striking out three and allowing five hits over 7.0 innings of work.
Carleton will look for look for its first victory of the year tomorrow, March 18, against California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. PDT/5 p.m. CDT.
