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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Baseball rebounds with series win over Hamilton, Norwich

 

The Middlebury baseball team walked away from a tough home series against Hamilton this weekend with two more NESCAC wins under its belt. Coupled with a mid-week victory against Norwich on Tuesday, April 16 the Panthers have made a strong rebound since enduring a five-game losing skid.

A bout of poor weather delayed the weekend series against the Continentals until Saturday, April 14, which kicked off with a low-scoring pitcher’s duel primarily between Logan Mobley ’15 for the hosts and sophomore Jonathan Lane for Hamilton. Though the Continentals were held to only two hits throughout the game, it would prove to be enough as Hamilton took the opener by a score of 2-1.

Middlebury jumped into the lead early in the bottom half of the first inning. Thomas Driscoll ’13 took advantage of an error made by third baseman Colin Henneberger to reach base and promptly stole second to get into scoring position before a single by Michael Morris ’13 moved him over to third. Tom Rafferty ’13 drove in the run with the sacrifice fly to center field, accounting for the team’s lone run of the game.

The game remained dormant for the next three innings, with Middlebury notching two hits compared to Hamilton’s lone single in the fourth. In the fifth, however, a hit-by-pitch to start off the inning came back to haunt Mobley as an error on a sacrifice bunt created a situation with two runners on with no outs, setting up another sacrifice to put both men in scoring position. Following an intentional walk to set up the force out at home, a fielder’s choice hit to shortstop Garrett Werner ’16 brought in the tying run.

The pace cooled again until the top of the seventh in which back-to-back no out walks gave Hamilton further momentum. A balk by relief pitcher Mark Dickerson ’15 moved the runners to second and third before an infield bunt single loaded the bases. Noah Bakker ’15 came in to control the inning but Hamilton hitter Gabe Klein got a free pass on balls, bringing in the game-winning run. The Panthers managed to get two runners on in the bottom half of the inning in response but failed to push them across.

Game two of the Saturday double-header saw similar dominant pitching, this time from Middlebury starter Eric Truss ’15. In eight-plus innings of work, he allowed six hits and fanned four without surrendering a lone walk. Unfortunately he was backed by an uncharacteristically sloppy performance from Middlebury’s normally consistent defense in which six errors turned two earned runs into four total and allowed Hamilton to hang around throughout the game. Behind three Middlebury errors in the second inning alone, Hamilton grabbed the lead early.

The Panthers responded in the third with two quick singles by Dylan Sinnickson ’15 and Driscoll, but Sinnickson was caught stealing at third and Morris flied out to center as the team conceded two outs just as quickly. Hunter Merryman ’15 knocked in Driscoll with a clutch single to tie the game and two straight walks by Hamilton starter Cole Dreyfuss brought in another run to give Middlebury the lead. He would walk six total along with nine hits on the day in four-and-a-third innings.

Though the Panthers found a way to get runners on base in all but one inning, they struggled to push runs across the plate, ultimately stranding 15 base runners in the game. The low run support for Truss gave little cushion as the ninth inning rolled around and Hamilton took advantage of his fatigue. Andy Dittrich ’13 entered the game in relief with no outs and one runner on. An errant pick-off attempt and a sacrifice bunt brought in another run to tie the game, but Middlebury won the game in the bottom half with a walk-off wild pitch following two hit-by-pitches and a walk.

Sunday saw a 12-inning marathon in which both teams combined to throw 10 pitchers on the mound who gave up a cumulative 31 hits in a whopping 99 total at-bats. After Hamilton struck first with a run to open the game, the Continentals and the Panthers traded big innings early: Middlebury scored two runs on three hits in the second, while Hamilton responded by knocking in three runs on four hits in the third. The Panthers then reciprocated in the fifth to bring the score to five-all.

After tacking on another run apiece, an eighth-inning RBI double from Alex Kelly ’14 put the Panthers ahead going into the final frame of regulation. An infield single by Hamilton’s Henneberger followed by a throwing error from catcher Andrew Lind ’13 allowed for Stephen LaRochelle to tie the game at 7-7 with an RBI single. The Panthers flirted with victory in the bottom of the ninth and again in the 11th inning after two men reached base, but it wasn’t until the 12th that a hit by Merryman and a couple of Hamilton errors brought home the game winning run three hours after the game’s start.

“I was a little disappointed that we lost the first game, but we rebounded well to finish the weekend,” said Merryman. “We feel like we’ve got some momentum now which we can hopefully carry over to the rest of our season.”

The Panthers pitching again proved effective on Tuesday, April 16 against Norwich as Dylan Kane ’14 and Edmund Murphy ’15 combined to blank the Cadets, giving up just three hits in a 6-0 shut out.

The third inning saw an offensive surge for Middlebury, as the team tallied three runs on five hits and one error. Norwich responded with an infield single to start off the fourth, but Kane shut down the Cadets offense and did not allow another hit.

The Panthers extended their lead in the fifth when Morris drove in Kelly with a single to right center field. For added insurance they tacked on two more in the eighth on a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice RBI by Driscoll.

Though pitching dominated the game, Middlebury bats have been heating up back to early form as Kelly, Merryman, Morris and Sinnickson each had a multiple hits. The Panthers look to be in good form heading into the second half of their season.

The Panthers look to build on their momentum this weekend, April 19 and 20, at home against Wesleyan where a series win could propel the Panthers to third place with hopes of a playoff run.

“The [two wins over Hamilton] put us back on track just in time for a crucial series with Wesleyan,” Sinnickson said. “Hopefully we can keep the momentum and beat Wesleyan this weekend, while keeping our playoff hopes alive.”


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