Baseball drops series 2-1 to strong NESCAC competitor

The Middlebury College baseball team took one of three from Wesleyan last weekend in Connecticut, dropping its record to 4-7 on the season after starting 3-5 in Arizona over spring break.

The Cardinals won the first two contests of the series by scores of 7-6 and 10-2 before the Panthers took the final outing 7-2.

“There have been times when this team looks like it can beat anyone in the NESCAC but we need to find a way to start playing that way every game,” said shortstop Will Baine ’12.

Third baseman Donnie McKillop ’11 expressed the same sentiment, saying “overall we have shown great potential to be a good team,” but adding that the Panthers “need to learn how to finish a team when we have the opportunity.”

McKillop’s concerns about the team’s finishing ability proved all too true in game one of the series, when the Panthers jumped out to 6-2 lead after a Joey Liberator ’11 home run in the fourth inning, but could not hold on for the victory as Wesleyan scored five runs in the next three innings.

“The key to our future success will be getting all parts of our game working for nine innings,” said McKillop, who had three RBIs in the first game.

The second game of the series, the first of a Saturday doubleheader, was tight early on but turned into a rout as Wesleyan pulled away in the middle innings. Tri-captains McKillop and Danny Seymour ’10 both tallied RBIs for Middlebury in the third inning, tying the score at two, but the Cardinals struck back in the fourth with six runs to gain an 8-2 advantage that they would not relinquish, eventually winning 10-2.

The Panthers finally notched a victory in game three of the series, their fourth of the season and second in NESCAC play (Middlebury went 1-2 versus Williams in a three-game series played over spring break).

Stellar pitching from Matt Lowes ’10, who allowed only two earned runs and struck out three in a complete-game effort, and two RBIs apiece from sophomores Zach Roeder ’12 and Matt Wassel ’12 propelled the Panthers to a convincing win over the Cardinals.

Middlebury tallied runs in six of nine innings, which characterized the kind of “consistent pressure with no let-up” that McKillop said was crucial to the team’s future success.

“Winning only one game in the series leaves us in a tough hole and makes our series against Amherst in two weeks huge,” said Baine, adding, “we are young and getting better.”

The Panthers have been getting contributions from players all over the depth chart, and at times have featured as many as four first-years in their lineup.

McKillop leads all hitters in batting average, hitting .400 through the first 11 games of the season.

He is followed by first-year Joe Conway ’13, who is hitting .325. Lowes and Nick Angstman ’11 have ERAs of 3.74 and 3.72, respectively, and have combined for all of the Panthers’ four wins this season.

Middlebury plays Castleton State in its home opener this week before a weekend series with Bowdoin, who just took two of three from fourth-ranked Trinity.

“Bowdoin should be a really good test for us this weekend,” said Baine.

The Panthers have lost two of their conference games by one run and look to further improve their consistency as they continue to grow as a young team.