WATERVILLE- For the first time in program history, the Colby College baseball team entered the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) playoffs as the top seed in the East Division. The Mules hosted #4 seed Wesleyan University in a best out of three quarterfinal series at the Colby College Baseball Complex, with the first two games on Saturday afternoon.
Game 1- Colby would score four times in the third inning, and came within one game of closing out the quarterfinal series with a 8-1 win. The Mules and Cardinals exchanged a run each in the bottom of the first and the top of the second inning, before the hosts took over the lead for good with that four run third frame. Ryan Grace hammered an RBI double to rightfield for the game winner.
Brady O’Brien and Noah Reichman added RBI singles, and Patrick Shrake grounded into a fielders choice that scored O’Brien that made it 5-1. Meanwhile, Colby starting pitcher Derek Woods (5-1) had a solid performance to earn the pitching victory. The righthander allowed one run on four hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in 6.0 innings.
Ryan Grecco picked up the 3.0 inning save, his third of the season, by allowing no runs on two hits walking none and striking out five.
Reichman had three hits and three RBI to lead the way for the Mules. Clint Flippo had two hits, while Grace also knocked in a pair of runs. Cole Torino had two hits and the lone RBI for Wesleyan, while AJ Karabenic (4-3) was tagged with the pitching loss giving up seven runs on eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 6.0 innings.
Game 2- In a back and forth contest, with Wesleyan battling to keep their season alive, Ethan Hillenberg scored on a sacrifice fly by O’Brien in the bottom of the 10th inning as Colby advanced and swept the series with a 6-5 walk-off win. The Cardinals took their first lead of the day 1-0 on an RBI single by Jack Nally in the top of the second. Two throwing errors by the guests allowed the Mules to score a pair of unearned runs on the same play in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead. Nally stole home plate in the fifth inning to tie the score for Wesleyan, and then they jumped in front again by scoring two runs in the sixth on a James Marsden RBI double and later in the frame on a Colby error to make it 4-2. Patrick McConnell cut it to 4-3 in the bottom half with an RBI single, and then in the seventh Grace hit an RBI double down the rightfield line and Reichman lifted an RBI sacrifice fly for a 5-4 Mules lead. The game eventually went to extra innings thanks to Torino scoring on a passed ball in the eighth for the Cardinals. The game winner in the bottom of the 10th inning by O’Brien was all set up with one out. Hillenberg singled to left, Marcus Forrester was hit by a pitch, and Grace singled to left center to load the bases. O’Brien then flied out to leftfield, and Hillenberg tagged up and scored easily standing to end it in walk-off fashion.
Matthew Scibilo won in relief of starter Thomas Rioux on the mound for Colby. Rioux went the first 5.0 innings allowing two runs on seven hits with one walk. Scibilo (3-1) gave up one run (none earned) on one hit with no walks and five strikeouts over 3.0 innings. Hillenberg, O’Brien, Grace, Forrester, and McConnell each had two hits. Nally, Ernie Little, and Luke LaSaracina had two hits a piece in the loss for Wesleyan. David Tirrell (3-5) took the defeat on the hill in relief giving up one run on six hits with no walks and two strikeouts in 3.2 innings. The Cardinals end their season with a record of 21-13, losing their final six games.
Colby improves their record to 28-8. The Mules now advance to the second round of the NESCAC Championship Tournament next week that will be held May 10-12 at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. The opponent, day, and start time in the double elimination format is to be announced.
Recap/photos/videos by Chris Lessner
