<rs on the Carleton College baseball roster played a key role in the Knights closing the 2012 campaign with a 7-3 triumph over host Saint Mary’s University. Carleton dropped game one, 3-2, despite Nolan Baker’s ‘15 three hits, including his first collegiate home run.
The opener saw the Cardinals (21-18, 10-10 MIAC) scored twice in the first inning, but Carleton got a run back in the second. Senior Erik Fabry singled with one out and advanced on a double by Baker. David Stillerman ‘14 drove a sacrifice fly to left field, making it a 2-1 game.
After the early hiccup, Carleton starting pitcher Anderson Cole ‘14 settled into a rhythm and retired 12 of 13 batters from the second through the fifth innings.
With two out in the top of the sixth, Baker knotted the score with a two-out homer to left field. In the bottom of the frame, however, Saint Mary’s got a one-out double by Jon Schlemmer to plate the eventual winning run.
In the season finale, the Knights (15-22, 7-13 MIAC) wasted little time giving senior southpaw Paul Dimick some run support with which to work.
After game-opening single, senior Kiyota Gomi picked up a base hit and advanced to second on the throw. Alex Wirta ‘12 plated the first run with a sacrifice fly, and Jeff Dsida ‘14 drove in the other with a single.
Carleton put the game out of reach in the third. With one out Dsida tripled and immediately came home on a Fabry single. Stillerman and Patrick Philley ‘12 followed with back-to-back doubles. Following a lineout, Clay Parrish ‘12, who’s last at-bat was the game-winning double against Bethel last week, picked up his second hit of the contest, this one a two-run single. A double and a walk loaded the bases, and Wirta worked a walk to force home the Knights’ fifth run of the inning.
The Cardinals eventually solved Dimick for three runs, but not before the senior had put himself and his teammates in position for the win.
All told in game two, the senior class accounted for the win—Dimick’s fourth victory of the season—as well as four runs, five hits, and six RBI.
The loss put Saint Mary’s on the bubble for making the post-season, but with some help elsewhere on the season’s final day, the Cardinals earned the final spot in the conference tournament via a tiebreaker.