Sweep of Wesleyan Ushers Baseball into Second Place

Author: Jacob Heller

Nothing builds confidence like a winning streak. After six straight victories the Middlebury baseball team is loaded with confidence. Coming off a sweep of Hamilton, Middlebury maintained its high level of play by defeating a veteran Wesleyan team in three close games: 6-5, 6-4, 12-9.
Against Hamilton, the Panthers relied on their bullpen to pick up the wins but last weekend taking on Wesleyan the starting pitchers carried the load. In the first game Russ Budnick '05 pitched a complete game, scattering eight hits and giving up only three ERA. Catcher Andrew Pavoni '06 had a stellar game behind the plate, throwing out three runners attempting to steal including the potential tying run in the last inning. Third basemen Jim Muhlfeld '04 led the way offensively with RBI singles in the sixth and seventh innings.
The second game of the series featured another solid start by Tyler Bak '06, who pitched a complete game and recorded seven strikeouts. Jake Armstrong '04 had a clutch two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning, adding to his team leading total of 16 RBI this season. Game three of the series was critical for Wesleyan if they wanted to remain above .500 and they jumped on Middlebury with a run in the first inning. Despite giving up several runs early on, Middlebury kept hitting and outlasted Wesleyan 12-9. Abe Streep '04 gave Middlebury the lead with an RBI single in the seventh and Armstrong followed him with two-run single to break the game open. Alex Casnocha '06 picked up his second relief win of the season. With the win Middlebury improved to 7-2 in NESCAC play and they currently lead the NESCAC West Division.
From the beginning of this season Coach Bob Smith has looked for consistency from his starting pitching and against Wesleyan he got just that. The ability of the starters to take pressure off the bullpen is critical for a team to succeed late in the season.
Dave Irwin '05 explains why this is crucial to a team striving for the playoffs: "Against a veteran team like Wesleyan it is important for the starters to hold them for a few innings. Our starters did more than that and there was never any doubt we were going to win even when we gave up some early runs. Anytime our starters throw back to back complete game wins it is a tremendous confidence boost for the team."
The Panthers are ready to make their playoff drive over the last two weeks of the season before a critical final series with division rival Amherst. Middlebury will still get a shot to continue their winning ways this weekend on the road against Castleton and Trinity. The two teams will both bring solid competition for doubleheaders against Middlebury to try and stop the streaking Panthers.
After winning six straight games to leave their record at 11-4-1 the Panthers are not losing sleep over the streak and they will not take a loss too hard.
Second basemen Dave Riester '05 puts the streak in perspective: "It's baseball. Winning streaks do not last the entire season but when they end you can't worry about it. If we lose it will not be for a lack of effort but you have to blame it on something."