With Full Plate, Baseball Gets a Taste of Success

Author: David Lindholm

A busy stretch for the baseball team ended on Tuesday as the team held on for a 6-5 victory at Forbes Field over Skidmore. In the week before Tuesday's game, the Panthers had played five games, including four against NESCAC foes, and came away with two wins. The Panthers now own a record of 9-13 but will be looking to use their recent momentum to start a run toward a winning record.

Skidmore gave away many early runs as the Panthers hopped out to a commanding 6-0 lead at the end of the fourth inning. First-year Gil Kim's presence on the bases was strong all day, stealing a base and scoring on a passed ball. The basepaths were not pleasant for all Panthers, however, as Dan Colonno '02 had to leave the game in the fifth after breaking his nose on a headfirst slide into third base.

But it was Eric McCollom '02 who made the difference in the game, throwing a complete game, allowing only three earned runs while striking out seven. In the fifth inning, Skidmore rallied from a six run deficit to draw the score to 6-4, but he quickly recovered, got out of the inning and went on to finish the game.

"Eric did a great job," said head coach Bob Smith after the game. "Last week he threw well for seven innings. He did a good job against [Massachusetts College] and he was doing well today. He was mixing his speed well." Smith also noted that another key play occurred in the eighth inning when catcher Ted Walker '02 gunned down a runner attempting to steal second, ending the inning. "[Ted's] done a nice job for us. He's not flashy but he really gets the job done."

Earlier in the week, the team met up for a non-league game at Massachusetts College. The Panthers led 4-3 after six and a half innings, but gave up five in the seventh to suffer a 10-6 loss. Colonno and Jake Armstrong '04 led Middlebury with two hits apiece.

Middlebury then entered league play with a three-game set at Wesleyan. In Friday's game, Wesleyan scored four runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to pick up a 12-4 win. A pair of juniors were the spark of the Panther offense as Denny Smith went 3-4 and Craig Hanson had a pair of hits.

On Saturday's double-header, both games were dominated by the defensive side of the ball. The Panthers have found their strength in their pitchers and fell in the first game by a narrow score of 2-1. The second game went in Middlebury's favor, however, as it rode Kim's strong performance for a 3-2 win.

The Panthers ended the road trip by making up a rainout game with Hamilton. The game was played at Amherst as Middlebury pounded out 17 hits in a 14-3 win over the Continentals. Smith went 3-5 with two runs scored and three RBI, while Armstrong was 4-4 with three runs scored and four runs batted in.

It has been an up-and-down season for the Panthers, but as Smith noted, "we are very close. We've played our best teams and we're a run away from winning the second game from them. We've got a chance to have a very good record right now." The team will host a doubleheader on both Saturday and Sunday of this week, and are confident that they can win all four.