WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The Carleton College baseball lost another nailbiter, dropping its spring break finale against Elmhurst College by a 5-4 tally. Four of the Knights’ six losses this season have been by one run.
Carleton (6-6) got off to a quick start, striking for three runs in the top of the first inning as Griffin Bolte (Jr./Portland, Ore./Lincoln), Wilson Battle (Fy./Salt Lake City, Utah/Skyline Senior), and Ben Frerichs (Jr./Alexandria, Va./St. Stephens and St. Agnes) strung together consecutive hits.
Elmhurst (6-7) answered back with two runs in the bottom of the frame and two more unearned tallies in the second. The Bluejays added a solo home run by Ben Havel to open the sixth.
Carleton closed the gap when Battle singled to start the seventh and scored on Matt Rubin’s (So./Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) double, trimming the deficit to 5-4, but that’s where the score remained.
Battle and Josh Small (Fy./Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) led the Carleton attack with three hits apiece.
Owen Riley (Fy./New York, N.Y./Trinity School) worked the front three innings and took loss, while relievers Joe Liesman (Fy./Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial), Luke Curtis (Sr./Appleton, Wis./Appleton West), and Frerichs combined on 5.0 frames of one-run ball.
The Knights now return to Minnesota and open MIAC play with a home doubleheader against Gustavus Adolphus College on Saturday, April 1 at 1 p.m.
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