Baseball sweeps Hamilton, headed to playoffs?

The Middlebury College baseball team swept Hamilton last weekend and, in the process, may have just swept their way into their first postseason appearance since 2007, and only their second appearance of all time. The victories over the Continentals helped the Panthers improve their record to 12-9 on the season, and, more importantly, 8-4 in NESCAC west play, which determines their playoff seeding. First-place Amherst also sits at 8-4 in the conference, but holds the tiebreaker over Middlebury due to their better overall record and series victory over the Panthers. Third place Wesleyan will need to sweep the Lord Jeffs this weekend in order to eliminate the Panthers from playoff contention. Anything other than a Wesleyan sweep will see Middlebury playing postseason baseball this spring.
“It was really special going into the Hamilton series with something to play for down the road,” said outfielder Murph McCurdy ’12. “I think top to bottom we were really focused and dialed in, and we were able to record our second sweep of the season.”
The Panthers’ series against Hamilton marked their most dominant all-around team performance to date this year. Middlebury outscored the Continentals 19-1 over the three games of the series, and saw stand-out performances from their pitching staff. Additionally, catcher Zach Roeder ’12 was named the NESCAC player of the week for his offensive output in the series.
Middlebury opened the home series with Hamilton with a Friday doubleheader in which the Continentals, to put it politely, never had a chance. In game one, the Panthers jumped out to a lead right away thanks to an RBI single from Roeder and an RBI double from Michael Morris ’13. Middlebury would score methodically in the early and middle innings thanks to RBIs from Will Baine ’12, Joe Conway ’13, and Tyler Wark ’12, eventually taking an 8-0 lead after the bottom of the fifth. That would be more than enough support for Middlebury starter Michael Joseph ’13, who allowed only four hits and struck out six in what would be a 9-0 Panther victory.
Game two on Friday started out as though it might be a close contest, scoreless through four. However, Middlebury was able to break the game open in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a three-RBI double from Roeder, and from there the flood gates were open. Middlebury added three more runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, and two in the eighth on their way to the easy victory. Hamilton was able to plate only one run in their half of the sixth inning, as Middlebury starter Nick Angstman ’11 went seven strong to improve to 3-0 on the season.
The third game of the series on Saturday was for baseball purists; a pitching duel that saw only one run scored between the two squads. Luckily for the home nine, that run was for Middlebury, and would be all they needed to complete the three-game sweep of the Continentals. John Wiet ’13 put in an inspired performance on the mound for Middlebury, allowing just three hits and striking out six in the complete-game shutout. Middlebury manufactured the only run of the game in the third, when Roeder singled and was advanced around the bases by the middle of the Panther batting order before being plated by an Alex Kelly ’14 RBI single.
Middlebury now waits anxiously for the results of this weekend’s Amherst-Wesleyan series. Should Amherst be able to take at least one game out of three from the Cardinals, Middlebury will advance to the NESCAC playoffs as the second-seed out of the west.
“The thing about NESCAC playoffs is once you’re in, anything can happen,” said McCurdy. “I think given the opportunity, our team will go out and give a real run of something we’ve always dreamed of: a NESCAC championship.”
The Panthers will travel to struggling Trinity this weekend for a pair of games that are important to the team’s overall record but otherwise inconsequential in terms of their playoff aspirations.