The Middlebury baseball team was defeated during both games of a NESCAC West doubleheader Saturday with visiting Wesleyan at Forbes Field. The Cardinals (18-5, 6-0) utilized timely hitting for a 4-2 win in the opener, while the visitors scored in seven of the nine innings for an 18-1 victory in the nightcap. The Panthers (1-17, 1-11) return to action on Tuesday when they host St. Michael's for a doubleheader at 2:00 p.m., while Wesleyan plays a single game at Yale on the same day.

In game one that went seven innings and took just 85 minutes to play, Wesleyan's Gavin Pittore and Middlebury's Eric Truss were locked up in a pitcher's duel as the wind was blowing in hard from center field. The Cardinals got to Truss in the top of the first with a single tally. Donnie Cimino drew a one-out walk, stole second and raced around to score on an RBI single off the bat of Sam Goodwin-Boyd.

An inning later, Ben Hoynes singled through the left side for Wesleyan, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored an unearned run on a throwing error.

In the bottom of the inning, Middlebury's Jason Lock led off with a hard-hit single off the mound. The very next batter Joe MacDonald grounded out to second, but Lock never stopped running, rounding second and headed to third. When the Cardinal first baseman tried to get Lock at third, his throw sailed over the third baseman's head and allowed Lock to score.

The score remained a 2-1 Wesleyan lead until the sixth. Goodwin-Boyd was hit by a pitch to begin the inning, moved to second on a single to right from Jonathan Dennett as the pair both moved up on a failed pickoff attempt. Back-to-back sacrifice flies by Nick Miceli and Ellis Schaefer plated Goodwin-Boyd and Dennett.

Trailing by three, the Panthers scored a run in the home half of the sixth. Ryan Rizzo roped a one-out single down the right field line. He moved to second on a groundout and came home on a laser-like double off the bat of Dylan Sinnickson to right center.

Neither team scored in the seventh as the Cardinals hung on for the 4-2 win.    

Rizzo, Sinnickson and Lock were each 1-3 at the plate for the Panthers, while Rizzo and Lock both scored a run. Truss (1-3) went the distance on 81 pitches allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits with a strikeout.

Hoynes finished 2-2 with a walk and a run scored to lead the Cardinals. Pittore (4-2) gave up two runs, one earned, on three hits with six strikeouts and a walk.

In the nightcap with the wind completely switching directions and blowing out hard to center, the Cardinals jumped on the board in the second inning for three runs, all after two were out. Dennett singled to center followed by walks to Jordan Farber and Schaefer. Andrew Yin drew a base on balls to plate the first run, while Eric Jones brought home two with a base knock through the left side.  

The visitors put a pair on the board in the third when Guy Davidson induced a five-pitch walk and scored on a home run over the center-field fence by Goodwin-Boyd. Wesleyan tacked on three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, fourth in the seventh, two in the eighth and one more in the ninth.

Middlebury broke up the shutout in the ninth when Alex Deutsch started the inning with a pinch-hit single down the right field line. Deutsch moved to second a single through the left side by Sinnickson and was forced out on a fielder's choice as Sinnickson moved to second. With two outs, Drew Coash placed a base hit into center as Sinnickson raced home for the Panthers.

MacDonald (0-2) worked the first 4.1 innings for the Panthers, while Jake Stalcup pitched an inning, Corcoran hurled 1.1 innings and Mark Dickerson and Ben Karlin each logged a frame.

Davidson finished the second game 3-4 with a homerun, double, four RBI and three runs scored. Hoynes also finished 3-4 with a double, two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Dennett went 2-4 with a homer for the Cardinals, while AJ Ferrara also added a pinch-hit round-tripper in the ninth.

Sam Elias improved to 5-0, going the first seven innings giving up two hits and striking out 11 against one walk. Asher Young worked the eighth and Ethan Rode pitched the ninth for the visitors.