The Middlebury baseball team (15-7, 4-1) took both ends of a home doubleheader over Williams (7-13, 1-5) on Sunday, giving the Panthers a three-game sweep in their NESCAC West series. Middlebury started the day with a come-from-behind 8-7 victory in seven innings, followed by an 8-5 triumph in the nightcap. The two wins extended the Panther winning streak to eight games. Middlebury returns to the field on Wednesday with a 4:00 p.m. contest at Castleton.

The Ephs started the opener with three-straight singles as Daniel Lynch capped the hitting with a run-scoring base hit to center driving in Mike Giove. The Panthers answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, as Beau Root walked, Mitchell Schroeder singled and both came home on a three-run homer to left center by Alec Ritch for a 3-1 advantage. The roundtripper was the fourth of the season for Ritch.

The Ephs took a 4-3 edge in the third with three runs on just one hit. Giove walked and eventually scored on a single to right center from Lynch, while Eric Pappas scored on a wild pitch after he reached on an error. Lynch stole home as part of a double steal to give the visitors the one-run lead.

Williams tacked on three more runs in the top of the fourth. Kedar Veeraswamy led off with a single and scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Lynch. Billy Shea touched home on a passed ball for a 6-3 lead, while Lynch scampered around to score on a double by Tyler Spiezio for a four-run advantage (7-3).

The Panthers began to chip away at the deficit with a single run in the bottom of the inning, as Zip Malley singled and scored on an RBI single up the middle by Ritch. Middlebury scored twice in the fifth, as Kyle McCausland drew a leadoff walk and raced home on a wild pitch. Andrew Ashley also walked, moved up to second and third on wild pitches and made the score 7-6 on a single up the middle from Jack Stolper.

After retiring Williams in order in the top of the sixth, Middlebury put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. John Collins started with an infield single and advanced to third on a base hit to right from McCausland who moved up on the throw. Collins and McCausland both scurried home on a single to left center by Ashley for an 8-7 lead. 

Middlebury relief pitcher George Goldstein worked around a one-out single in the top of the seventh to earn his first save this spring. Goldstein has seven career saves, putting him in second place in the program's record books.

Ritch went 2-3 with a walk, a homer, scored a run, stole two bases and had four RBI in the opening game. Schroeder also had a multi-hit game going 2-4 with a run scored. McCausland scored twice and was 1-2 with a pair of base on balls. Charlie Kutz (1-0) picked up his first win of the season, hurling two innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts.

Giove (2-3), Lynch (2-4) and Spiezio (2-3) all had two hits for Williams, while Giove and Lynch each scored twice and Lynch finished with three RBI. Nick Skiera (0-2) took the loss in relief, allowing two runs on five hits in an inning of work.

In the nightcap, the visitors took a 2-0 advantage in the second with a pair of unearned runs. Matthew Brown walked and Shea singled, as both scored on a Panther fielding miscue.

The hosts scored four times on four hits in the bottom of the third. Schroeder drove in the first run on an RBI double to center, while Ashley followed with a two-run double to left center. Stolper made it a 4-2 game on a run-scoring base hit to right.

Middlebury made it 5-2 in the fourth when Sawyer Duarte doubled down the left-field line, advanced on a groundout and scored when he stole home. Chris Borter increased the Panther lead to 6-2 with his first career home run in the seventh over the left-center field wall. Lucas Flemming reached on an error, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and touched home for a 7-2 lead on an Eph throwing error.

Williams pulled to within four (7-3) in the eighth on an RBI single by Lynch. The Panthers answered when Ritch blooped a triple into right center, coming in to score on a base hit from Ashley for an 8-3 lead. The Ephs tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the ninth on an RBI double by Ryan Young, as Young scored on a wild pitch for the final 8-5 tally.

Schroeder (3-4, R) and Ritch (3-5, 2R) led the Panther offense in the second game, while Ashley was 2-4 with three RBI.  Alex Rosario picked up the win on the mound, improving to 5-1. He surrendered two unearned runs on three hits with seven strikeouts in six innings.

Pappas went 2-5 with a run scored for Williams. JH Vaughan (1-1) suffered the loss, giving up five runs (four earned) on five hits in 3.1 innings.

The Panthers lead the NESCAC with 33 home runs as a team through 22 games, as 12 different players have collected at least one.