Waterville, MAINE - The Colby Baseball team hosted the Wesleyan Cardinals Saturday for the first two games of the NESCAC tournament. This is Colby's first time in the NESCAC tournament since conference play began in 2001, finishing the regular season with phenomenal records of 8-4 in the conference and 23-11 overall. Colby looked to sweep today so they wouldn't have to play game three tomorrow. 

The Mules had an important win in game one, topping the Cardinals 10-9 in 11 innings.  Colby jumped out to an early lead when Cabot Maher blasted a three-run homerun over the center field fence in the bottom of the first inning.  Wesleyan jumped on top in the top of the second with a three-run shot over the right field fence, but Colby answered with seven runs in the bottom half of the inning, capped by a grand slam by Cole Palmeri.  Palmeri is tied for second in the conference with eight home runs on the season and leads the way with 41 RBI.  

The Cardinals chipped away over the next several innings, scoring one in the third, one in the fourth, and three in the fifth.  Jack Pletter came on in relief of starter Nicholas Thompson and strung together three straight scoreless innings before Wesleyan hit their third home run of the day in the top of the ninth inning, a solo shot that tied the game and forced extra innings.  In the bottom of the 11th, Maher sent the first pitch of the 11th over the fence in center, sealing the walk-off win for Colby and taking the all-important first game 11-10.  Pletter struck out 10 Wesleyan batters in 7.0 innings. As the starter, Thompson allowed four earned runs, scattering four hits and striking out five.  

In Game 2, Colby scored in three of the first four innings en route to a more comfortable 10-1 victory.  Brady O'Brien started the scoring with a solo home run in the bottom of the first.  Dylan Nastri sent a solo shot over the fence in the fourth.  Maher knocked in a run with a single in the fourth and two more with a double in the sixth.   On the mound, first-year Jack Bohrer was stellar in the start, allowing no runs and only four hits in six innings pitched.  

Maher returned to action after missing the last 10 games due to injury.  The senior announced his presence with authority, smashing two home runs and two doubles, and collecting seven total hits on the day, scoring four times and knocking in six runs.  

Now that Colby has advanced, they will head to Trinity College for the final two rounds of the tournament, which are double elimination. The pairings for this tournament will be determined after the games finish this weekend.