The Middlebury baseball team (25-11) won the opening game of the best-of-three NESCAC Quarterfinal series Saturday in walk-off fashion 4-3, before dropping the second contest to Tufts (24-11) by a 22-9 score. The contests marked the first two NESCAC Tournament games hosted by the Panthers on Forbes Field. The teams return to action on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. for a winner-take-all contest for the right to advance to the NESCAC Championship next weekend at Trinity.
The Panthers got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the second during the first game.
Andrew Ashley singled through the right side, stole second and scored on a home run to center field by
Jack Stolper for a 2-0 lead.
The Jumbos cut the deficit in half in the fourth when Miles Reid homered to left center. Middlebury regained the two-run lead in the bottom of the inning when
Sammy Smith blasted his sixth roundtripper of the spring over the left-center field fence for a 3-1 edge. The visitors tied the contest at 3-3 in the sixth on a solo homer to center by Connor Flavin and an RBI double to left center by Ben Leonard.
Smith started the winning rally in the ninth for the hosts with an infield single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Chris Borter was intentionally walked, putting runners on first and second. After a flyout,
Zip Malley blooped a base hit into right center, as Smith raced home from second to give the Panthers a 4-3 win.
Stolper went 2-3 with a homer, two RBI and a run scored for the Panthers, while Smith was 2-4, touched home twice and drove in another run.
Alex Price went the first 6.1 innings on the mound for Middlebury, allowing three runs on six hits, while striking out 10.
George Goldstein (3-1) earned the win, tossing the final 2.2 innings and gave up just one hit while striking five.
Reid had two hits, including a home run, in four at-bats for Tufts, while Connor Bowman was 2-3 with a run scored. Cameron Mayer (3-3) was the tough-luck loser, allowing four runs on nine hits with 13 strikeouts in 8.2 innings of work.
The Jumbos grabbed control of the second game with nine runs on seven hits in the top of the first inning. Flavin highlighted the frame with a three-run homer to right center, while Kyle Cortese and Leonard each had two-run base hits. Tufts added a pair more in the third on back-to-back roundtrippers off the bats of Reid and Leonard for an 11-0 advantage.
The Panthers answered with eight runs on five hits in the home half of the third.
Nathan Samii highlighted the inning with a solo homer to start the frame, before adding a three-run blast later in the rally.
Alec Ritch ripped a two-run double to the base of the wall in right center, while
John Collins lifted his NESCAC-leading 11th homer of the season over the trees in left center.
Tufts pushed the lead to 16-8 with five runs in the fifth, before Stolper homered to right for the Panthers in the bottom of the inning. The Jumbos added two in the sixth, three in the eighth and one more in the ninth for the final 22-9 score.
Collins was a perfect 5-5 at the plate with a double, a homer and a pair of RBI, while Samii finished 2-4 with four runs driven in and scored twice. Pitcher
Alex Rosario (6-3) took the loss for the Panthers.
Peter DeMaria paced the visitors with a 4-5 effort in game two, including a double and a homer, with three RBI and scored three times. Patrick Solomon went 3-6 with a double, a trio of RBI and three runs scored. Connor Podeszwa (5-3) earned the win in relief, giving up a run on four hits with four strikeouts over six innings.
