TUCSON, Ariz. – The Carleton College baseball team trailed 8-0 early in Tuesday's game against Wesleyan University, and the Knights furious comeback attempt came up just short in a 13-11 slugfest.
 
"I'm proud of the overall effort and competitiveness we showed today," said head coach Alec Holcomb. "[Braden Sebesta] did an awesome job keeping us in the game in the middle innings, and we fought until the very end. We are eager to get back after it on Thursday."
 
This was the fourth loss in a row for the Knights (1-6), but they have been achingly close to snapping the skid many times. This was the third of the four setbacks in which the final out was recorded with a potential tying or winning run for Carleton at the plate.
 
The Cardinals (8-1) got out to an early lead, rapping out five base hits in the opening frame to score four. The squad from Connecticut continued to extend its lead, notching one in both the second and third stanzas, and made it 8-0 with an Evan Diaz two-run homer in the fourth.
 
Carleton, however, would not go quietly. The Knights began the comeback in the bottom half of the fourth, as Asher Stolberg stayed white-hot with a leadoff triple and was plated by a Sam Chutkow double into center. John Hurtubise scored Chutkow with a sacrifice fly two batters later. The real momentum swing, however, came after a Sam Gossard hit-by-pitch when Will Schnepf slugged a soaring two-run blast to left-center.
 
The Knights kept the pressure on in the fifth. Nathan Barnhart, Sam Zacks, and Stolberg opened the frame with consecutive hits, pushing Barnhart and Zacks around for runs. One batter later, Ryan Chang sent a double into right-center, and Hurtubise delivered a single to center that scored Chang. The seven unanswered tallies took the score to 8-7 and knocked out starter Ian Appelby.
 
Braden Sebesta entered the game to pitch in the top of the fifth and spun 3.0 sterling shutout innings, striking out four. For the Cardinals, reliever Joey Light-Rake responded with zeroes of his own. A run in the eighth made the score 9-7 in favor of Wesleyan going into the final frame.
 
The Cardinals put up four insurance runs in the ninth using two walks, two hits, and a sac fly. Those runs would prove crucial for Wesleyan to hang on. In the final half-inning, Zacks beat out an infield single, Stolberg walked, and both were driven in by a pinch-hit double off the wall by Ananth Iyer. Chang followed with an RBI triple, then Hurtubise lined an RBI single to right. The score now stood at 13-11, but there it would remain as the Knights lined out and flied out twice to conclude the game.
 
Zacks was 3-for-5 at the plate, scoring twice. Stolberg pushed his average to .556 with a 3-for-4 day with a walk and two RBI. Hurtubise notched two hits and three RBI.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton is off on Wednesday, then gets right back to action with a double-dip against the University of Redlands and Bates College on Thursday, March 20. The game times are 9:30 a.m. MST/11:30 a.m. CDT and 1:00 p.m. MST/3:00 pm. CDT, respectively, at Kino Sports Complex Field #4.