TUCSON, Ariz. – The Carleton College baseball team split a pair of games on Thursday, rallying from three runs down to claim a 7-5 victory over Wesleyan University (Conn.) before dropping an 11-1 (7 inn.) result to Oberlin College.
Ryan Chang (Fy./Alameda, Calif./The College Preparatory School) had two hits and four RBI to pace the Knights.
Game 1 Recap
Carleton 7, Wesleyan 5
The Knights (3-7) trailed 3-0 before batting in the third inning, but Carleton scored in each of the next five frames to secure the win.
Sam Gossard (Fy./Wilmette, Ill./New Trier),
Steve Antrim (Jr./Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest), and
Kai Oishi (Jr./New York, N.Y./Trevor Day School) had two hits apiece to lead the offense.
Senior
Braden Sebesta (Spring, Texas/John Cooper School) picked up his first collegiate victory, while
Ananth Iyer (So./Redmond, Wash./Overlake) notched his first save.
Down 3-0, Oishi and Antrim started the rally with back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the third inning. Both would come around to score on sacrifice flies, one by Iyer and the other by Chang.
Aaron Rice (So./Evergreen, Colo./Colorado Academy) singled to start the fourth, stole second, moved to third on Gossard's second hit, and raced home on a safety squeeze bunt by Oishi that tied the score at 3-3.
The Cardinals (5-6) regained the lead with a two-out run in the fifth, but Chang's two-run single brought home Antrim and Iyer, pushing Carleton ahead.
Sam Chutkow (Fy./Needham, Mass./Needham) doubled home Gossard in the sixth, and Chang scored an insurance run in the seventh.
Sam Zacks (So./Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) got the stating nod on the hill, allowing three runs (two earned) over 4.0 frames. Sebesta worked a season-high 3.0 innings, and Iyer closed it out with four strikeouts over 2.0 scoreless stanzas.
Game 2 Recap
Oberlin 11, Carleton 1 (7 inn.)
The Yeomen (4-5) scored four times in the first inning and never looked back as they scored twice in the third, fourth, and fifth frames before ending the game with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Meanwhile, Oberlin starter Vince Dolcemaschio was masterful, going the distance and limiting Carleton to an unearned run on four hits—all singles—with seven strikeouts and no walks.
The Knights run came in the second inning. Zacks reached on an error, stole second, and scored on Chang's base hit up the middle.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton concludes its Arizona trip with a 1:30 p.m. MST game against Oberlin.
