<usy weather continues to be the bane of Knights baseball, which, along with a plethora of on-the-field miscues, have collectively made for a tough slog of a season. The familiar mix of errors, wild pitches, and a lack of timely hitting all contributed to Carleton’s defeats on Monday, when the team faced off against the Macalester Scots to observe Senior Day.
The Knights (9-20, 3-11 MIAC) marked the occasion by recognizing the stellar careers of their quartet of seniors in a pre-game ceremony, but unfortunately could not reward their elder statesmen with victories out on the diamond, falling 5-1 and 7-3 in both ends of the doubleheader. It was only fitting, however, that several seniors played valiantly in defeat and turned in some highlight-reel performances before an appreciative crowd.
Case in point, hurler Jake Anderson ‘11 took the bump in game one and held the conference-leading Scots scoreless until the sixth inning, when they finally eked an unearned run across the plate to knot the score at 1-1. With two outs and the nine-hitter up for the Scots, it looked as though Anderson might wriggle out of a seventh inning jam and give the Knights a chance for a walk-off win. He had no such luck however, as a wild pitch allowed the go-ahead run to score from third, leading to a rally that let the Scots escape with a 5-1 win.
Eager to salvage a split in game two, things got off to a promising start for the Knights. Grant Bowen ‘11, caught up in the Senior Day spirit, drilled an unfortunate pitch through a stiff breeze and over the left field fence for a two-run bomb that put Carleton up 3-0 in the third inning.
Unfortunately, beyond that point the highlights were few and far between for the Knights, whose bats fell mostly silent while the Scots crept back into the game.
Third baseman Jim Klein ’11 could not be faulted for his team’s tragic demise. The revered veteran put on a defensive clinic in the hot corner, making several solid defensive plays. Klein’s biggest highlight came at the end of the fifth inning, when Robert Williams, the Scots’ clean-up hitter, sent a scorcher down the left field line. True to his nickname, “Roadhawk” Klein took to the skies to make the diving snare and then fired across the diamond in time, where Bowen made a nice catch while absorbing a bone-rattling hit from the batter.
Klein proceeded to lead off the Knights’ half of the inning with a double, but ultimately his heroics could not breathe life into the Carleton dugout. Eventually, the Scots tied things at three apiece in the sixth inning, which led to extra innings after both teams swapped a scoreless seventh. With all momentum lost, the Knights yet again found themselves on the wrong end of a late-inning collapse, as the Scots came through with a four-run outburst in the eighth, expanding their lead in the conference standings with the 7-3 win.
The Knights will take their waterlogged home field one final time this year, when the team hosts Gustavus Adolphus on Friday at 2:30 p.m. Following their clash with the Gusties, Carleton will conclude their season with two road sets versus Augsburg and St. Olaf.