The Hamilton College Continentals cruised to a win in Game 1, but the Trinity College Bantams took Game 2 on Saturday afternoon and forced the winner-take-all game in a 2022 NESCAC Baseball Championship quarterfinal series at Hamilton's Loop Road Athletic Complex.
 
The deciding Game 3 is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sunday, May 8 back at Hamilton. The winner advances to the NESCAC Championship Weekend, which will be played at Trinity from Friday, May 13 through Sunday, May 15.
 
The Continentals (17-15 overall) tied their record for wins in a season with a 15-0 triumph. The shutout was Hamilton's first this spring. The Continentals are the West Division's No. 2 seed for the championship.
 
The Bantams (15-19) ended their losing skid at seven games with a 6-4 victory. Trinity is the East Division's third seed for the championship.
 
Game 1
 
Hamilton dominated the opener with 19 hits as the Continentals recorded their first shutout since April 24, 2021. Hamilton scored at least one run in every inning except the fifth.
 
Gavin Schaefer-Hood '22 (5-2) recorded his 20^th career win with five shutout innings. Schaefer-Hood allowed four hits and struck out two. Preston Perez '22 earned his second save and lowered his earned run average to 2.59 with four shutout innings in relief. Perez leads the team with 46 strikeouts in 31.1 innings. He fanned five Bantams and gave up three hits.
 
Phil Bernstein '23 tied a career high with four hits including a double for the Continentals. Ethan Harrast '23 chipped in three singles and drove in three runs. Brady Slinger '22, Shane Dux '24, Ethan Murphy '22 and Jay Schlaefer '23 finished with two hits each.
 
Bennett Teceno went 2-for-4 with a double for Trinity. Michael Aceto pitched the first three innings and took the loss.
 
Hamilton went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first when Bernstein led off with a double to deep left and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Slinger. In the second Dux led off with an infield single and scored on Murphy's two-out double to the gap in left center.
 
The Continentals started to pull away with four runs in the third inning. Slinger drove in a run with a single to left, and Adam Wijaya '22 made it 6-0 with a two-run double down the line in right. Hamilton scratched another run across in the fourth. Schlaefer bunted for a leadoff single, Bernstein singled through the left side and Harrast drove in Schlaefer with a base hit to right-center field.
 
The Continentals increased their advantage to double digits in the sixth inning. Schlaefer got things rolling with a blast to the left of the scoreboard out in left field for his second career home run. Dux homered to almost the same spot with two outs and a man on for an 11-run cushion. The round-tripper is his first at Hamilton.
 
Harrast drove in a run with two outs in the seventh on a single through the left side. The Continentals wrapped up the scoring with three runs in the eighth. Dux led off with a walk, Wijaya was hit by a pitch and Murphy loaded the bases with a single to center. Jack Eshleman '25 pinch-hit for Schlaefer and promptly drove in Dux with a single to right. Bernstein followed with another single to right that plated Wijaya, and Murphy raced home with the 15^th run on a fielder's choice.
 
Game 2
 
The Bantams scored three runs in the top of the second and never trailed. They added a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Patrick Dillon, Sean Meth, Colin Mann and Mike Guanci ended up with two hits each. Cooper McGrath tossed 4.1 innings of relief and collected the win. Jake Mello collected the save with a scoreless ninth inning.
 
Harrast hit his eighth double and finished with two hits. Slinger registered two more singles and has 48 hits this season. Slinger leads the team with a .414 batting average. Michael Ghiorsi '23 pitched the last 2.1 innings and didn't allow a run.
 
Hamilton started to claw back with two runs in the fourth inning. Harrast walked and with two outs, he stole third base and scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Jackson Sattinger '24 singled to center and came all the way around on a double to left center by Dux.
 
A bases-loaded walk in the sixth gave Trinity a 4-2 lead. The Continentals immediately countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Slinger singled to center, Sattinger walked and Greg Kopp '25 scored Slinger on a ground ball to short. Schaefer-Hood was hit by a pitch and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Wijaya's single to the second baseman drove in Sattinger with the tying run, but Schaefer-Hood was tagged out at home trying to score from second.
 
Guanci's two-out, two-run single down the right field line in the seventh put the Bantams back in front 6-4. Hamilton put two runners in scoring position over the last three innings but ultimately came up empty.