The Hamilton College Continentals defeated the Wesleyan University Cardinals 11-5 on Sunday afternoon and won two out of three games in their NESCAC West Division weekend series at Wesleyan's Dresser Diamond.

Hamilton (10-9, 3-3 NESCAC West) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning on four hits, a walk and an error. Ethan Wallis '21 led off with a double to right field and immediately scored on a single through the left side of the infield by Jordan Northrup '19. Northrup moved all the way to third on a wild pitch and eventually scored on a fielder's choice by Matt Zaffino '21. Zaffino then came around to score on a stolen base, an error and a run-scoring single to left field by Brady Slinger '22. Despite Hamilton's Kenny Gray '20 picking up two strikeouts in the bottom of the inning, Wesleyan (9-11, 3-3) cut its deficit to 3-2 with two runs on two singles and an error.

Gavin Schaefer-Hood '21 kicked off a three-run second inning with a walk and Rich Marooney '21 hit a single to right-center field. Wallis dropped down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Schaefer-Hood and Marooney, and both runners scored on Northrup's single up the middle. Northrup later scored on a two-out single to left field by Zaffino.

Wesleyan cut its deficit in half at 6-3 in the bottom of the second. Jonny Corning hit a leadoff double and came around to score after two groundouts to the right side of the infield.

Hamilton loaded the bases in the top of the third and scored a run when Northrup drove in Justin Schirmacher '20 with a single. Wesleyan scored twice in the bottom half of the inning after a leadoff single and home run to right field that made the score 7-5. Hamilton held on to that two-run lead for the next four innings.

The Continentals had two hits and capitalized on a walk and two errors in the eighth inning and extended their lead to 10-5. They added one more insurance run in the top of the ninth to clinch the victory.

Nate Goodman '20 went 4-for-5 with a double, and Northrup went 3-for-5 and drove in a career-high four runs. Schaefer-Hood, Marooney, Slinger and Wallis had two hits each. Slinger and Zaffino plated two runs apiece, and Craig Sandford '19 walked three times. Tom Riley '20 (2-0) relieved Gray in the fourth, pitched two scoreless innings and picked up the win. Carl Maxwell '22 allowed one hit over three innings of work and Ian Nish '19 shut down the Cardinals in the ninth.

Hamilton makes a short trip to Utica College on Tuesday, April 9 for a non-conference game at 4 p.m.