Baseball splits a pair with Cardinals in doubleheader

Author: Dillon Hupp

After opening the season in Arizona, where they played 10 games in eight days, the Middlebury baseball team returned to Vermont last week to begin the home portion of their schedule.

Following an 8-7 victory over Southern Vermont, the Panthers opened a critical three-game series with division rival Wesleyan, their first NESCAC action since being swept in three games by Williams over spring break in Arizona. With Saturday's game postponed due to inclement weather, the Panthers and Cardinals met for the first time this season on what began as a brutally cold and cloudy day at Forbes Field this past Sunday. The doubleheader marked the NESCAC home opener for Middlebury, and the team rebounded nicely from a 9-5 loss in the opening game to win 13-5 in the latter matchup and earn the split.

The Panthers started the first game well, taking advantage of three Cardinal errors and a Zach Roeder '12 RBI in the first inning to take a two-run lead. Roeder added another RBI in the third, driving in Erich Enns '10 on a sacrifice fly and giving the Panthers a 4-2 lead.

The Panthers maintained that advantage behind solid pitching from starter Steve Shortle '09 until the fifth inning, when Cardinals shortstop Drew Dominguez tied the game on a two-run home run. The Cardinals added another run after Dominguez's home run to take a 5-4 lead.

Shortle was relieved in the seventh inning by Scooter Scott '11 after going for six and a third innings, giving up six earned runs on seven hits and three walks and recording three strikeouts on the day. Scott faced three batters and gave up two runs before being replaced by Matt Lowes '10, who recorded the final out of the inning.

The bottom of the seventh started promisingly for the Panthers, with Murphy McCurdy '12, Tim Dillon '09 and Danny Seymour '10 all singling and closing the Cardinal lead to 9-5. However, the rally was short- lived as Wesleyan recorded the next three outs in order to seal the victory. Shortle was the losing pitcher for the Panthers; Mones earned the win for Wesleyan in a complete game effort.

The sun came out and the Panthers' bats came alive for the second game of the day's doubleheader. Tyler Wark '12 started the scoring by driving in Mark Shimrock '09 in the bottom of the second, and from there the runs kept on coming. The Panthers would add three more in the next inning on hits by Shimrock, Seymour and Enns, followed by two more in the fourth inning when Wesleyan committed three errors and Seymour drove in Dillon, his first of two RBIs in the game.

Middlebury really broke the game open in the fifth, however, when they scored seven runs on seven hits to take a 13-4 lead. Peter Bourdon '09 led off the inning with a double to centerfield, and Alex Blair '10, Andrew Matson '09, Donnie McKillop '11, Seymour, Dillon and Enns all had RBIs.

Nick Angstman '11 gave the Panthers seven good innings, allowing four runs on nine hits with six strikeouts, and Matt Joseph '09 provided two innings of relief as Middlebury picked up their first NESCAC victory and improved to 6-7 overall on the season. The Panthers played at Plymouth State this past Wednesday and play a four-game series against Tufts this weekend.

"It felt really good to get our first NESCAC win today," said Zach Doleac '12. "We're really looking forward to the rest of the season."