The Middlebury baseball team (16-7-0) tallied its ninth-straight win with a 6-0 shutout over Castleton (6-16-1) on Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers return to Forbes Field on Friday at 4:00 p.m. to host Amherst in the first contest of a NESCAC West three-game series. 
 
Middlebury jumped out to a 2-0 lead in its half of the opening inning against the Spartans. Beau Root singled through the right side, Mitchell Schroeder was hit by a pitch and Alec Ritch reached on an error to load the bases with no outs. Two plays later, Andrew Ashley blasted a single to center field to bring home Root, before Schroeder crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly from Chris Borter.
 
In the hosts next at-bat, Panther Lucas Flemming reached on a fielding error before touching home when Nathan Samii smacked a double to center field. Root later singled to right center, stole second and rounded the bases on a wild pitch for the 4-0 lead. With two outs on the board, John Collins belted a double to center to drive in Ritch, making it 5-0. 
 
Middlebury increased the advantage to 6-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Schroeder perfectly dropped a base hit in the gap between second and center, sending Root home from second base. 
 
Castleton looked to get things going in the top of the seventh. Jake O'Brien singled to shortstop and Addison Schaub blooped a base hit through the right side, but the Panthers recorded the final out to deny the Spartans a run.
 
Sawyer Duarte earned the win on the mound for Middlebury, allowing no hits and striking out three over the opening pair of innings. The Panthers saw a different pitcher on the mound in each of the final seven innings, with George Goldstein coming in to close out the game in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts. The appearance was Goldstein's 13th this season and 39th in his career, moving him into a tie for fifth and fourth, respectively, in the record books. 
 
Root paced Middlebury at the plate, tallying three runs on four hits to go along with a pair of stolen bases. Schroeder was 1-1 with an RBI, while Borter, Collins and Samii each had two hits. Ritch tallied two stolen bases during the win, moving him up on two Middlebury record lists. He is tied for third on the single-season list with 22 steals and is in a third-place tie on the career list with 40. 
 
Stephen Coffey suffered the loss, allowing two runs on a pair of hits in the opening inning for Castleton.