The Middlebury baseball team (13-7, 2-1) battled back from an early 4-1 deficit, earning a 5-4 victory over visiting Williams (7-11, 1-3) on Friday at Forbes Field. The three-game NESCAC West set concludes on Sunday with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m.

The Panthers jumped on the scoreboard with a run in the first, as Beau Root poked a leadoff single up the middle and moved to second when Mitchell Schroeder was hit by a pitch. After a fielder's choice erased Root at third and Schroeder advanced to second on the play, Sammy Smith brought home Schroeder with a base hit to right field for a 1-0 lead.

The Ephs grabbed a 4-1 advantage in the top of the third, plating four unearned runs on just one hit and took advantage of two Panther errors.  With the bases loaded, Eric Pappas reached on an error to bring home Mike Giove who walked, while Jon Singleton also touched home on the play for a 2-1 edge. Daniel Lynch smashed a sinking liner to right that plated Pappas and Ryan Young for a 4-1 advantage.

Middlebury made it a two-run deficit (4-2) in the bottom of the stanza, as Alec Ritch started things with a leadoff single to right center. He stole second, third and scampered home on a straight steal.

The score remained 4-2 in favor of Williams until the fifth, as the Panthers put together a rally with two outs. Kyle McCausland roped a double to left center that hit off the base of the wall, scoring on a seeing-eye single up the middle by Zip Malley for a 4-3 score. The hosts tied the contest at 4-4 when Root reached on an error with one out and raced around to touch home on a double to left center from Schroeder. 

The Panthers grabbed a 5-4 lead in the home half of the seventh with an unearned run. McCausland was hit by a pitch with one away, advanced to second on a fielder's choice and scored the game-winning tally on a single to right center off the bat of Sawyer Duarte. 

Williams was unable to get anything going in its final two innings, as the Panthers hung on for the 5-4 victory.

Root paced Middlebury going 3-5 with a stolen base, while Schroeder went 2-3 to increase his hitting streak to 10, to go along with an RBI, a run scored and he was hit twice by a pitch. Duarte chipped in with a 2-4 effort and an RBI, while Ritch was 1-5 with a run scored and three steals. With his hit, Ritch has reached base safely in 16-straight contests. George Goldstein (2-1) picked up the win, tossing the final 2.1 shutout innings and didn't allow a hit, striking out three. Alex Price had a solid start going the first 6.2 innings with four strikeouts and allowed just the four unearned runs.

Lynch went 2-4 with a pair of RBI for Williams, while Pappas was 1-4 with an RBI and scored a run. Giove also drew three walks for the Ephs. James Murray (1-2) took the loss in relief, allowing just one unearned run on two hits over his two innings of work.