Middlebury baseball’s season started like a car in the dead of Vermont winter — slow to turn over but now running strong. The Panthers extended their winning streak to eight games last weekend, demolishing Skidmore in a doubleheader (13–3, 13–7).
In Friday’s opener, the team traveled to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The game was tied after two innings, before Middlebury unleashed a six-run avalanche in the third to take a 7–1 advantage, highlighted by Will Ashley ’27’s two-run blast. Kyle McCausland ’25 extended the lead to 13–3 with a home run in the seventh, while also adding two doubles, giving him 44 for his career and setting a new Middlebury program record.
Sunday’s contest at Forbes Field featured a nerve-wracking comeback. By the third inning, Skidmore had surged out to a deflating six-run lead through two home runs, including one that towered 400 feet over the left field wall.
NESCAC player of the week Nathan Samii ’25 and teammate Ben Slaughter ’25 responded with back-to-back homers, and the Panthers completed the comeback in the seventh when Isaac Rosario ’25 launched a game-tying home run. In the top of the eighth inning, Stefano Yozzo ‘27 held Skidmore’s offense before the Panthers erupted for six runs to complete the sweep. Middlebury is now an impressive 26–10 in their all-time record against Skidmore.
After early season mishaps and missteps, Middlebury baseball has found their groove in emphatic fashion. In the season’s first three games, the college was easily swept by a well-prepared Emory program. A subsequent four-game winning streak hinted at potential recovery before Vermont State Lyndon beat the Panthers 6–4, marking an existential threat for baseball this season.
Despite defensive struggles — 29 errors across their first 18 games — the Panthers managed to capture enough wins just to stay afloat in the league. Then, the tides turned. Since the spring break trip to California, the Panthers have gone 12–3, with sweeps against NESCAC rivals Wesleyan University and Williams College. Against Skidmore last Friday, the team reached 20 wins for the fifth season straight.
“We've been able to turn a corner just because the young guys are getting more experienced, more comfortable and coming into their own and playing really good baseball,” Samii told The Campus.
Baseball Head Coach Mike Leonard told The Campus in March that the younger players would need time to become comfortable in larger roles. His early-season prediction has come true. Ashley and fellow sophomore Aiden Han ’27 are succeeding in the starting lineup, both recording successes against Skidmore while Stefano Yozzo ’27 has compiled a 1.80 Earned Run Average (ERA) across 20 innings — already 10 more than last year. Meanwhile, Pablo Spielman-Rodriguez ’28 is hitting .283.
“I think we're still just scratching the surface of what we can be,” Ashley told the Campus. “This is a super talented group, and like we've mentioned, we're super young.”
Samii said he has embraced the mentorship aspect of this season's journey for these younger teammates.
“In the past we’ve all kind of been pieces of the puzzle and had a lot of older guys surrounding us and we've been supplements to that success,” he reflected. “But I think this year to be the older guys and cultivate an environment where the younger guys can thrive as a piece and not have to take over has been really cool.”
If there is one problem for the Panthers, it is pitching depth. The staff has been depleted by injuries all season, including the loss of Justin Lessing ’25 one of the best pitchers in the program’s history. In five of the past six games, the Panthers have surrendered more than six runs against mediocre opponents. The offense scored more than 10 runs in each of those contests, but the Panther's pitching staff is still searching for consistency as the games grow more meaningful to their future prospects.
As May approaches, the NESCAC playoffs are just around the corner. Having won the title in 2022 and 2024, Middlebury will have a target on their backs in the league.
“Everybody else in the NESCAC, their goal is to beat Middlebury,” Samii explained. “The other teams in the NESCAC don't like playing us. They don't want to play us.”
A third consecutive NESCAC title would send the Panthers to the NCAA tournament, where they've fallen to the eventual champion in each of the past two seasons. The team has yet to win the NCAA tournament in their history, but Samii said the Panthers won’t shy from the challenge.
“I'm not scared of anyone,” Samii said. “I know that if we play the way we have been playing and the way that we can play, I think I have all the confidence in the world going into the playoffs.”
After a lackluster start, The Panthers have turned their season around in miraculous fashion and appear to be peaking at the right time this month. Regardless of how the end of the season goes, the future for this program looks bright, especially with its core of young players who will only grow stronger in the years to come.
