Baseball Falls in Two Games Against Bantams

The Panthers failed to touch home plate this weekend in Hartford, Conn. as they dropped two games to Trinity last Saturday, April 27. Middlebury remains in third place in the NESCAC West as their divisional record dropped to 4-8 (9-17 overall). Despite scoring three runs, the Panthers fell to Skidmore in their mid-week game on April 30.

Game one began slowly for Trinity as starter Eric Truss ’15 tossed two straight hitless innings, allowing only one runner in the stretch on a hit-by-pitch. The Panthers showed early promise offensively with two lead-off hits in the second by Alex Kelly ’14 and Tom Rafferty ’13, but they were ultimately left stranded, along with Max Araya ’16 who walked in the inning. Rafferty capped the Panther offense with a 2-3 game.

Middlebury paid for their missed opportunity in the third when Trinity knocked in three runs on three hits including a pair of doubles by Scott Cullinane and Alex Almeida. After Stephen Rogers singled to drive in Almeida and Joe Papa walked, a botched play by Truss allowed Rogers to come in for an unearned run.

Truss would settle down after the inning, but his command was not on par with his last few performances for the Panthers. The fourth inning saw two consecutive hit-by-pitches, but a double play ground ball ended the inning. Truss began to fatigue in the fifth after an Almeida triple and his fourth and final hit-by-pitch of the game. A sacrifice fly to center field brought in Almeida to push the game to its final score of 4-0. Andy Dittrich ’13 closed out the game by pitching a scoreless sixth inning.

The Panthers came out flat in game two as the Trinity pitching silenced the Middlebury offense. Following three straight groundouts in the first inning, Trinity starter Scott Huley struck out the side in both the second and the third inning in a performance that would set the tone for the remainder of the game. Middlebury struggled to collect just three hits across the game’s nine innings, coming closest to scoring in the seventh inning when two runners were left on base.

The Bantams, however, rode the momentum from their victory and came swinging. A double, single and sacrifice fly to bring in a run began the bottom half of the first inning. Despite leaving three runners on base, Trinity tacked on two more runs on three hits in the third inning.

Trinity busted the game wide open when the fourth inning rolled around. Five straight RBI hits – a double and four singles – quickly put the game out of reach. The fifth inning began with back-to-back doubles to add another run,with another RBI single in the eighth to top the game off at 10-0.

The Panthers have now concluded NESCAC West divisional play and have just five games left on the season, following Wednesday’s game against Plymouth State.

The team’s home game Tuesday, April 30 against Skidmore saw Middlebury bats with some renewed life, but the Panthers couldn’t overcome the early deficit and fell to a final score of 8-3.

Middlebury flirted with scoring in the second with two runners left on base, but the game remained scoreless through the first three frames. Skidmore struck hard in the top of the fourth with four runs on four hits, highlighted by a two-run homerun by Mike Pannozzi following a leadoff single by Nate Barra.

The Panthers didn’t give in to the quick 4-0 deficit, instead driving in three runs on three hits and one error in the bottom half of the inning. Hunter Merryman ’15 brought in Morris, who reached by a misplayed ball to third base, with an RBI double to right center field. Kelly followed suit with a single before Rafferty brought him in. Araya plated the inning’s third run by a sacrifice fly to center field.

Skidmore added to their lead in each of the next three innings, swiping six from starter Dylan Kane ’14 and two more from Dittrich who came in for relief in the sixth. Mark Dickerson ’15 closed out the game with two scoreless innings, but Skidmore would prove to have enough to take the win.

Though the game saw more runs given up than would be liked, Dittrich noted that the developed solidarity in the team’s pitching staff will put them in positions to win throughout the rest of the season. Morris added that despite the team’s record, the season “isn’t an entire loss…we [can still] come out and get some wins” to finish off the 2013 schedule.

They look to finish the year off on a high note in their two-series weekend against Bowdoin and Tufts on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5, before finishing out on the road against Castleton State on May 8.