Panthers, Lord Jeffs Produce Last Inning Dramatics

Author: Neil Onsdorff

Baseball, like life, can be hard —it has its ups and downs, its good times and bad. The members of the Middlebury College baseball team can definitely testify to this after reflection of this past week's games.

After opening their season at home last Wednesday with a win 3-2 in 10 innings in a tough, cold and wet contest against in state rival St. Michaels, the Panthers looked ahead to one of their biggest weekends of the year — the always fundamentally sound team of Amherst College.

The Panthers started the first game of the double header cold with both their bats and their pitching and suffered a one sided 8-1 loss. In the second half of the double header, Middlebury showed signs of a team turn around and pulled out a heart pounding 6-5 victory, with the winning hit coming in the bottom of the ninth inning from third baseman Neal Higgins '03. Speedy second baseman Gil Kim '05, said after the game, "It was a great game to be a part of. We were down for most of the game and to climb back the way we did was fantastic — this was a big win for us."

Middlebury, riding on the obvious high of an emotional win, looked to rap up the series during the third and final game on Sunday. Middlebury was looking to use the arm of vastly improved pitcher, Chris Fraser '04, to counter the senior ace and co-captain of Amherst.

Throughout much of the game, it was the tale of two teams — on the defensive side, lead by Fraser, Middlebury kept Amherst confused at the plate, helpless on the bases, and most importantly, off the scoreboard. In contrast, on the offensive side of the game, Middlebury was able to get on base and into scoring position even when the umpiring was suspect at best. Yet, the Panthers were not able to drive these runs in like they had in games past. Shortstop Brian Hamm '02, called out after even after receiving a body check from the Amherst first baseman, took away one run, and Jason Hanna 03, called out by a phantom plate interference call washed away at least two runs. The score was knotted at zero until late in extra innings.

Unfortunately, the Panthers were not able to muster any runs as the game dragged onto the 16th inning and eventually succumbed to Amherst after a balk call put two runners in scoring position for Amherst, and Amherst was able to get the crucial hit that had been eluding both teams all day.

"We went into the weekend looking to take at least one game from them," said Coach Bob Smith, "I was pleased that we were able to win one, but to come so close to winning the second, I have a bitter sweet feeling — we should have come away with two victories this weekend."

To sum up the entire weekend, co-captain Hamm said, "It was frustrating to see our pitchers throw with all our hearts, and to have a little lack of execution and some bad luck take away a game I thought we could win."

Middlebury will have a chance to get back to its winning ways on Wednesday as they take on a Colby Sawyer team at 3:30.at home. The Panthers will travel this weekend to a much-improved Hamilton squad that "can't be over looked, and must be taken seriously," said Coach Smith. Look for the Panthers to return for action at home in two weeks against Skidmore.