It may have taken a little longer than expected, but the Middlebury baseball team advanced in the NCAA Tournament with an 8-4 victory over Swarthmore (23-19) on Sunday morning. The game started on Saturday, but was suspended in the seventh inning due to bad weather and resumed with the Panthers (31-13) holding a 5-4 advantage to start the morning. Middlebury tacked on three more runs to advance into today's championship round against top-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University.

The Garnet, serving as the visiting team, broke the ice with a single run in the top of the second inning. Andrew Olsen lifted a sacrifice fly to left field for a 1-0 edge.

Middlebury came up big with two outs in the third frame, scoring three times. Nathan Samii led off the inning and touched the plate on a single to center field by Alec Ritch before John Collins drove in Ritch and Zip Malley with a triple for a 3-1 cushion.

In the home half of the frame, Swarthmore received a solo home run to right field by Paul Cooke to close to within a run at 3-2. Two batters later, Michael Sepe lined a shot over the fence in right to put the Garnet back on top 4-3.

The lead changed hands again in the fifth, this time the Panthers jumped back in front by scoring twice. Ritch accounted for both tallies, dropping a single inside the line in right field to bring home Root and Malley for a 5-4 edge.

Root came up with a huge defensive play in the last of the sixth, leaping up at the fence in center field to take away a game-tying home run for Kirk Terada-Herzer.

An inning later, bad weather rolled in and pushed the remainder of the contest until Sunday. The only runs scored in the final two-plus innings were via home runs. Root gave Middlebury a 7-4 advantage with a two-run shot down the line in right, before Collins lofted his team-leading 14th round tripper for an 8-4 cushion.

George Goldstein pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth for the Panthers, sending the team into the championship portion of the regional. Goldstein's inning capped a tremendous effort by Middlebury's bullpen that kept the Garnet off the scoreboard for the final six innings. Ritch (5-0) earned the win with three hitless frames, while Cole Crider hurled two innings.

Collins and Root each finished 3-5 with a home run with Collins driving in three and Root a pair. Malley also recorded three hits in the win.

Sepe led Swarthmore with a pair of hits, while Kyle Jones-Shah (0-1) took the loss in relief.