SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Two days after the Carleton College baseball team picked up its first victory of the season, the Knights found themselves back in the loss column, dropping a 7-4 setback at Westmont College. After trailing 7-0, the Knights rallied in the late innings putting the tying run on base in the eighth but came up short. Rookies David Stillerman (Evanston, Ill.) and Kevin Johnson (St Anthony, Minn./DeLaSalle) each had two hits off the bench in the defeat.

The Warriors started hot, scoring six runs in the first two innings off Carleton (1-9) starter Henry Rownd (So./Rochester, Minn./Lourdes) highlighted by Timothy Leary’s third home run of the year. Westmont (13-15) would get another run in the fourth to stretch their lead to 7-0.

Meanwhile, the starting lineup only collected three hits and no runs in the first five innings. Frustrated with the performance, Coach Aaron Rushing put in the backups looking for a spark, leaving only one starter remaining in the lineup after the fifth inning.

Rownd (0-3) would conclude his day with a scoreless sixth inning before acquiescing to the bullpen. He allowed seven runs (six earned) on 14 hits. Relievers Jacob Anderson (Sr./Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) and Jukie Tsai (Fy./New York, N.Y./Friends Seminary) both posted scoreless innings in relief.

The Knights rallied in the eighth, scoring four runs on four hits, two walks, and a hit batsmen. The Warriors’ pitching staff struggled to get outs as they used three different hurlers just to get out of the inning. Unfortunately, Carleton would leave the bases loaded and would not threaten in the ninth.

Carleton is back in action tomorrow, March 23 at Occidental College. The game was originally scheduled to be played on March 20 but was rained out. First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m. PST/5:30 p.m. CST.