NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College baseball team split a pair of 7-inning games against the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The Blugolds captured the opener, 8-4, but the Knights rallied from seven runs down to take game two, 10-8.
Game 1
UWEC (6-16) needed only one pitch to grab an early lead as Drew Salyers opened the game with his fifth home run of the year. Carleton (7-12) answered in the bottom of the first as
Sam Gossard tripled and came home on
Nathan Barnhart's groundout.
Both teams scored again in the third and fourth innings, with UWEC building a 5-3 lead. The Knights closed to within a run after Gossard belted his third long ball of the season, this one a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
UW-Eau Claire padded its lead with three runs in the top of the seventh to conclude the scoring.
Gossard had two of the Knights' five hits in the game.
Game 2
Carleton fell behind early as Blugolds took advantage of three Knight fielding errors to score five times in the top of the first. The visitors widened the lead to 7-0 with two more tallies in the second.
Carleton put up their first runs of the game in the bottom half of the second.
Sam Chutkow started the inning with a single, and
Steve Antrim followed it up with a double down the leftfielder line.
Jordan Appelbaum's grounder brought home Chutkow, and a deep sacrifice fly by
Aaron Rice scored Antrim.
In the top of the fourth, the Blugolds had runners on the corners, but the Knights snuffed out an attempted double steal, nabbing a runner at the plate to end the inning.
Carleton carried the momentum over to the bottom of the frame and scored three times. Rice had an RBI single and
Kai Oishi added a two-run single through the left side of the infield, bring the Knights to within 7-5.
UWEC found its final run in the top of the sixth thanks to a Salyers' single, a wild pitch, a stolen base, and a base knock by pinch hitter Connor Weik.
The Knights responded with a five-run outburst in their half of the sixth. A single from
Ryan Chang got the scoring started, and
Ananth Iyer followed with a run-scoring single of his own. After walk loaded the bases, a fielding error allowed Chang to score.
Brayden Stark was plunked, forcing home the go-ahead run, and another UWEC miscue permitted
John Hurtubise to head home, giving Carleton a 10-8 advantage heading into the seventh frame.
Will Schnepf tossed a scoreless seventh, including two strikeouts, to earn the save.
Andrew Sellers pitched the first inning for the Knights, giving up five runs (one earned) on a walk and two hits.
Zach Gordon tossed 4.0 frames out of the bullpen, relinquishing two earned runs on five hits and a walk.
Ethan Chan picked up the win for the Knights, throwing a one-run sixth on two hits.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton heads to Saint John's University for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, April 13.
