Bayer Strikes Out 10 in
Bantam Win
Hartford, Conn. - Junior RHP Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield,
Mass.) allowed four hits and struck out 10 over 7.1
innings on the mound to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 9-5
win in the first game and a split of the baseball
regular-season-ending doubleheader against the visiting Wesleyan
University Cardinals in this afternoon. Trinity, ranked No. 2
in New England and No. 6 in the nation, closes the regular campaign
with a 26-5 record. The Cardinals, which won the second game,
7-6, finish with their highest win total since 2002 at 19-14.
The teams will play each other again on Friday, May 7 at 3 p.m.
at a site to be announced to open the 2009 New England Small
College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship Tournament.
The defending NESCAC and NCAA Champion Bantams earned a bid with a
12-0 mark to take the top seed out of the NESCAC East
Division. Wesleyan learned of its bid early in today's
second game, when Williams College clinched the top seed in the
NESCAC West Division with an 8-5 triumph over Amherst that also
gave the Cardinals the No. 2 seed out of the division. Tufts
University will be the fourth team in the three-day,
double-elimination tournament next weekend to determine the
league's automatic bid to the NCAA Field.
Trinity held a 4-2 lead after six innings in the first game and
broke the contest open with a five-run seventh frame. Trinity
sophomore SS Robert Martin (Lowell, Mass.) and
junior OF Jack Abbott (Longmeadow, Mass.) started
the seventh with singles, and Trinity proceeded to score on a walk,
a hit batsman, a Wesleyan error, two wild pitches, and an RBI
double by sophomore DH Alex Rokicki (Truro,
Mass.). The Cardinals battled back for three runs in
the top of the ninth frame, including two on RBI singles by junior
C Jeff Bizinkauskas (Duxbury, Mass.) and senior SS
Drew Dominguez (Braintree, Mass.), and had the
bases loaded and the tying run at the plate with two outs, but
Trinity junior lefty Derek Anderson (Great Falls,
Va.) retired the final out on a fielder's choice.
The Bantams had opened the scoring at 2-0 with an RBI single by
Martin and an RBI groundout by Abbott in the second inning, but
Wesleyan senior OF Garrett Lonborn (Stevenson,
Md.) doubled and scored in the third inning and led off
the fifth with a home run to tie the game at 2-2. Trinity
answered immediately with runs in the fifth and sixth innings on
two-out, RBI singles by senior tri-captain C Sean Killeen
(Greenfield, Mass.) and freshman 3B Alex LiDonni
(Norwood, Mass.).
In the nightcap, Wesleyan used a five-run fifth inning to take a
6-1 lead and scored a necessary insurance run in the top of the
ninth inning. Junior Brice Kelly (Austin,
Texas) hit a two-run single to highlight the Cardinal
fifth, and a throwing error by LiDonni gave Wesleyan its seventh
run in the ninth. The Bantams had pulled to within a run with
three runs in the bottom of the seventh frame, as junior DH
Joe Markovich (Mill Creek, Wash.), Rokicki, and
Abbott each delivered RBI singles. LiDonni was hit by a pitch
to open the ninth, prompting Wesleyan to change pitchers, and
freshman righty Brett Yarusi (Belmar, N.J.) struck
out his first batter but walked the next two to load the
bases. Killeen managed a sacrifice fly to right field to
score one runner, but Yarusi got the final out on a pop up to earn
the save for freshman starter Mike Barsotti (Philadelphia,
Pa.).
Game 1 box
score
Game 2 box
score
