Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The Middlebury baseball team split its first two games of the 2016 season against Bates during a doubleheader played Saturday on a turf field at the New England Baseball Complex in Northborough, Massachusetts. The low-scoring twinbill saw the Bobcats take game one 2-1 in seven innings, but the Panthers grabbed the nightcap with a 4-3 victory in nine innings via a walk-off home run by Sam Graf. Bates (5-6) was playing its 10th and 11th games of the spring. Middlebury returns to the diamond next Saturday for a doubleheader against Oberlin to begin its annual spring break trip to Arizona.
The Panthers took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of game one. With two away, Max Araya doubled to deep left-center field to the wall. Jason Lock reached on a Bates error as Araya came all the way around to score on the play for a 1-0 lead.
Bates responded in the bottom of the second against Middlebury starter Colby Morris. With two outs and nobody on, Asher MacDonald singled and came home when Eric Vilanova roped a ball to dead centerfield for his first career home run.
Middlebury threatened in the third when Graf was hit by a pitch and Jake Turtel singled, before both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. With runners at second and third and one out, Bates starting pitcher Conor Colombo struck out back-to-back hitters to get out of the inning unscathed.
The Panthers threatened again in the fourth, putting runners at first and second with one out. Joe MacDonald and Drew Coash drew walks, but Colombo induced a double play to end the inning.
The score remained a 2-1 lead for Bates headed into the seventh. A single from Middlebury's John Luke and a walk by Johnny Read put runners at first and second with nobody out. The Panthers bunted Luke and Read to second and third, putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. Bates reliever Rob DiFranco got the next two hitters to ground back to the mound, ending the game and securing his first save of the year.
Morris went the distance in his first career start for the Panthers on the mound. He gave up just two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and a walk in six innings of work.
Colombo tossed the first six innings for the Bobcats, surrendering an unearned run with two hits, seven strikeouts and two walks. MacDonald and Samuel Warren both went 2-3 for at the plate for Bates in game one, including a double for Warren.
In the nightcap where the Panthers were the home team, Middlebury scored a pair of runs off Bates starter Connor Speed in the second inning. With one out, MacDonald drew a walk and Phil Bernstein singled before Brendan Donohue smacked a double, plating both MacDonald and Bernstein. Middlebury tacked on a run in the third. With two outs and nobody on, Araya singled and raced home on a double by Luke to extend the Panther lead to 3-0.
Bates' John Dinucci started a three-run fourth for the Bobcats with a double off Middlebury starter
John Bunting. Conor Reenstierna doubled in Dinucci to cut the deficit to 3-1. Brendan Fox followed with an opposite field two-run home run to tie the game at 3-3.
In the eighth, Araya was hit by a pitch, MacDonald was intentionally walked and Bernstein was hit by a pitch by Bates reliever Chris Ward to load the bases with one out. However, Ward worked out of the jam with two strikeouts and kept the score deadlocked at 3-3.
With one away in the bottom of the ninth, Graf hit a Ward offering over the left field fence to win the game for the Panthers.
Donohue went 3-4 at the plate with two RBI and a double, while six other Panthers collected one hit and MacDonald drew a pair of base on balls.
Dinucci was 2-4 with a double and run scored for the Bobcats in game two, while Fox went 2-2 with a homer, a run scored, two RBIs and two walks.
Bunting tossed the first four innings allowing three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and a walk. The Middlebury bullpen turned in an effective performance with
Conor Himstead,
Jake Stalcup and
Dylan Takamori (1-0) combining to toss five shutout innings with just one hit and four punchouts.
Speed went six innings for Bates, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out four in a no-decision, while Ward went 2.1 innings with a two strikeouts and a walk.
