Baseball Falls To Wesleyan, 7-1
BASEBALL FALLS TO WESLEYAN, 7-1
HOLYOKE, MA, April 8, 2009 - Wesleyan University senior pitcher Jonathan Sargent (Ashburnham, MA) threw five perfect innings of relief and the Cardinals used a crucial four-run, seventh inning to pull away to a 7-1 win over Elms College in Wednesday night's non-conference baseball game at MacKenzie Stadium.
Wesleyan won for the fifth time in its last seven games to improve to 10-9, while Elms College dipped to 8-10.
The host Blazers grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the second when freshman right fielder Zach Cerra (South Windsor, CT) hit an infield single and later scored on a passed ball.
The Cardinals knotted the game at 1-all in the fifth, as freshman first baseman Alex Meadow (Pacific Palisades, CA) delivered a RBI single to plate junior right fielder Brice Kelly (Austin, TX), who reached on an error to leadoff the frame.
Wesleyan plated the go-ahead run in the sixth on Brice's RBI double.
The Cardinals then put the game out of reach with a four-run, seventh that included a clutch two-run single by sophomore second baseman Jonathan Sheehan (Bethesda, MD).
From there, Sargent sent the Blazers marching in order, as he retired all 15 batters he faced over the final five innings - including six via strikeout - en route to his second win of the year.
Junior starting pitcher Mike Bieber (Wading River, NY) was issued the tough-luck loss despite allowing just two runs (one earned) on only four hits. Junior reliever James Kosiorek (Springfield, MA) allowed one earned run on two hits in his 2.2 innings of work for the Blazers, who were limited to four hits for the game.
Sheehan and senior shortstop Drew Dominguez (Braintree, MA) both finished 2 for 4 for the Cardinals, who stranded 11 runners.
Elms College returns to non-conference play at Nichols on Thursday, April 9 at 3:30 p.m. Wesleyan, meanwhile, is slated to host Hamilton on Friday, April 10. Game time is 4:00 p.m.