Mules Sweep Tufts, Receive Votes for D3 Top-25
With five games on the week, the red hot Colby Baseball team took major steps towards their goal to return to the NESCAC Championship tournament. After outlasting USM Wednesday night 13-12, the three-game series in Medford between the Mules and Jumbos had many eyes on Massachusetts, especially after Colby received votes last week towards a national ranking.
Nick Thompson was brilliant in Friday night's opener, throwing over 100 pitches in Colby's 12-9 victory. When he left the game in the 7th, the Mules were ahead 10-1. Tony Silva and Clint Flippo each collected three of Colby's 17 hits.
In Game 1 Saturday, Colby fell behind 5-0 before making a charge with one run in the 5th, three in the 6th, and three more in the 7th. Cole Palmeri hit his NESCAC-leading 9th home run of the season, and the 26th of his career. Ryan Grace tallied a 2RBI double in the 6th, and Patrick Shrake (headline photo) collected a 2RBI single in the 7th.
In Saturday's nightcap Colby led from the jump. Noah Reichman bested his 4-5 performance from the USM game earlier in the week by going 5-5 with two home runs, a double, and 6RBI. The Mules had 20 hits in the game, and Derek Woods went 6.2 innings on the mound for his third win of the season. Ryan Grecco made an appearance in both of Saturdays games, earning a win in the first and a save in the second.
The fifth game in as many days came Sunday in a makeup matchup against Endicott. The Gulls, currently ranked #1 in Division 3, chipped away throughout en route to an 8-0 win, issuing Colby only their fifth loss of the season.
The Mules are currently 20-5 and rank first in the NESCAC East with a 5-1 conference record. They face off against Husson on Wednesday before entering a home-and-home with Bowdoin.
Women’s Lacrosse Takes Care of #25 Bowdoin and Westfield
In a busy three game week, the Mules kicked it off by defeating the Polar Bears in a close 14-11 battle Wednesday night. The first quarter was all Colby’s, outscoring their opponent 7-2, however the momentum swung in the second as Bowdoin netted five to close the score to 8-7 at halftime. The Polar Bears took control again to go up 10-9 in the third but Colby dominated in the final frame keeping Bowdoin to just a single goal and scoring five to outlast the Polar Bears 14-11. Julia Jardina and Ally Franz combined for ten goals including Franz’s 100th of her career.
In Saturday's contest at #22 Trinity the Mules fell down 5-2 after the third. With four straight goals in the fourth the Mules rallied to take the lead 6-5. The Bantams were able to put two in the back of the net before the final horn to take the one goal win. Franz collected four goals in the contest as Jardina grabbed a goal and an assist. Defensively, Kat Munter finished with six ground balls and five caused turnovers.
Colby rebounded the next day, dominating Westfield from the jump in a 20-6 victory to go undefeated in non-conference games this season (5-0). 14 different Mules earned at least a point including 11 goal scorers as Jardina led the way with a career-high seven.
Franz (6th, 34 goals) and Jardina (tenth, 31 goals) both currently rank in the top-10 in total goals in the NESCAC. Tate Ban ranks eighth in assists with 16.
Colby Women’s Lacrosse, who is now 9-4 (4-4 in conference, good for sixth), will look to finish up their home schedule Saturday hosting Williams.
Softball Splits with Middlebury and Williams, Earns First Win Over Ephs in NESCAC Era
After narrowly falling in a midweek double header with the pride of the North Atlantic Conference Husson Eagles, Colby hosted two top-end NESCAC opponents over the weekend. The Mules earned a split with both Middlebury and Williams.
Abby Orso earned her fifth win of the season with a complete game gem in the opener with the Panthers, and followed it up the next day with another complete game performance against the Ephs. She earned her sixth win of the season as Colby beat Williams for the first time since NESCAC began conference play in 2001.
Courtney Schumacher returned to the lineup after missing a few weeks due to injury to be dominant at the plate. The sophomore went 8-12 in the four games against Middlebury and Williams with a home run and a double, scoring seven runs while knocking in four more.
Carissa Cassidy and Emma Burnham collected hits in five of the six games this week, and Cassidy is a perfect 15 of 15 in stolen base attempts, ranked second in the conference.
With a 3-3 conference record, Colby will take to the road next weekend to visit Trinity and Wesleyan.
Women’s Tennis Defeats Bates, Comes up Short to #13 Tufts
In their 7th and 8th consecutive road matchups, the Mules topped the Bobcats 8-1 Sunday after narrowly falling to the Jumbos 5-4 on Saturday.
In Sunday's competition, Colby found themselves up 2-1 after doubles, and followed with a sweep in the singles matches. Jade Finestone in the four spot and Michaela Landry in the five spot had the most dominating wins with score lines of 6-3, 6-0 and 6-3, 6-2.
Against Tufts, the Mules brought the intensity with wins coming from the pairing of Sam Riordan and Sydney Landau in doubles, as well as Landau, Ellie Gershaw and Landry in singles. Colby just could not find that last game victory to take the overall win. The 5-4 loss was the closest match with Tufts in the last 15 years.
The 6-4 Women’s Tennis team (good for sixth in the conference) will finally return to Mayflower Hill this weekend hosting Trinity and Wesleyan.
Track Earns Top Marks at UConn., Conn. College, and Saint Joseph's
With the Maine State Classic a week away and the NESCAC Championships two weeks out, Colby's Track & Field teams spread out over New England in search of great competition and top qualifying marks for post season. The Mules sent athletes to the UConn Northeast Challenge, the Silfen Invitational at Conn. College, and the Monks Invitational at Saint Joseph's and brought home plenty of hardware.
At UConn, the Mules collected 10 top-15 finishes, highlighted by Levi Biery (1st, 400m Hurdles), Erin Daugherty (4th, 100m Hurdles), and the 4x100 Relay team of Daugherty, Fiona Mejico, Simone Waheed, and Kaitlyn Ewald (5th place).
At Conn. College Gordon Doore raced to 1st place in the 1500m. Henry Reichle placed 5th in the same event, and Maddie Bush placed 5th in the 800m.
At the Monks Invitational, Colby collected a whopping 23 top-5 finishes, with 18 landing on the podium.
Event WInners:
- Alexandra Bessler, Women's 200m
- Maddie Bush, Women's 1500m
- Brady Clegg, Men's 3000 Steeplechase
- Logan Lehnert, Men's Pole Vault
- Danny Reyes, Men's 5000m
- Henry Riley, Men's 100m
Bowdoin will host next week's Maine State Classic on Saturday.
Men’s Tennis Tops the Bobcats, Falls to the Jumbos
After taking a 8-1 loss to Tufts (lone victory coming from Jake Cohen and Sam Henry in doubles), the Mules found redemption with a 6-3 win over Bates.
With wins by Joey Barrett/Josh Kaplan and Henry/Cohen the Mules took a 2-1 advantage heading into singles. Barrett, Cohen, and Henry all took care of their matchups with ease as Paul Dandler grabbed a 10 point tie breaker to clinch the 6-3 final score.
Men’s Tennis, who is now 6-6 on the season good for fifth in the NESCAC, will look to battle their other conference rival Bowdoin on Thursday, April 18th in Brunswick.
Men's Lacrosse Battles #12 Bowdoin and Trinity
On Wednesday Colby fell to the Polar Bears 25-5 in Brunswick as the Polar Bears remained undefeated on the season. For the weekend matchup, Colby hosted Trinity College for a tight match to celebrate senior day.
The Bantams jumped in front 4-0 but Colby closed the gap to a single goal to enter the break down 6-5. Trinity tacked on three goals in the third and two more in the fourth to stay ahead of the Mules and hold on to the victory 11-7. Cormac O'Neil finished with a pair of goals and assists. Will Heisler continues to put up big save numbers in net totaling 17 in the match following his 14 saves from Wednesday's contest. The goalkeeper currently ranks 5th in save percentage in the conference.
Following Saturday's matinee, the team honored its seven seniors. (Left to right) Erik Niit, Matt Suffredini, Jack Bowen, Max Solmssen, Rafa Bru, Doug McCarthy and Noah Brooks.
5-7 Colby Men's Lacrosse has two conference games remaining starting with Williams on Saturday.
Crew Takes on the US Coast Guard Academy
In the blustery wind Saturday down in Medford, Mass. the Colby Crew teams competed against the Bears of Coast Guard Academy. Each of the three Colby boats were able to build upon their performances from a week ago.
The Men’s V8 had a close contest all the way down the race course with Colby getting out to a small lead early, but we weren’t able to sustain efficiency and rhythm through the very important middle of the course which allowed Coast Guard to build a margin that couldn't be overcome. Colby finished with a time of 6:08.9 as the Bears finished just ahead at a time of 6:04.4.
The Women’s V8 were able to row a complete and composed race despite being up against a simply stronger and faster crew. The Mules secured a time of 7:50.1 as Coast Guard grabbed a time of 7:04.8.
“Each week our goal is to build on previous weeks and continue putting together more complete races, and they were able to do that despite just a few rows on the water.” - Head Coach Stew Stokes
The Men’s 2nd V8 was another bright spot this weekend finishing five seconds ahead of the Bears (6:24.5 to 6:29.5).
The Men's 2nd V8 "came into the weekend having made the most of the few rows they got last week and were able to ride that all the way down the race course. They set out to be very aggressive in the first half of the race so as to try and build a lead and they were able to accomplish that, maintain their composure and continue to move away from the Coast Guard crew down the race course.”
Next up, Colby Crew will head back to WPI Saturday, April 20th.
Special thank you to the photographers who helped make this production possible: Bonnie Baker Photography, Cole Burkhart '24, Steve Cheney P25, Stephen R. Clouthier, Ashley Conti, Jamie Fiedorek '25, Colin Flood '26, Steve Fuller @flyingpoint, Michael Garrett P23, Andrew Hearns P24, Peter Li '26, Michael Maher, Joshua McKee, Dustin Satloff '15, Ellie Sawyer P25, Bill Stevenson P24, Isadora Wells '26, Ansley White '26