The Middlebury baseball team scored the first five runs on Wednesday at Forbes Field, cruising to a 9-4 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). With the win, the Panthers have won six of their last seven games. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury struck for a run in the first inning. Sammy Smith drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kyle McCausland for the 1-0 lead.
• The Panthers pushed their advantage to 4-0 with a three-run frame in the fourth. McCausland and Nathan Samii started the rally with back-to-back hits. Samii's hit was mishandled in the outfield allowing McCausland to score all the way from first base. Samii later touched the plate on a two-run homer by Lucas Flemming to left-center field.
• In the fifth, Middlebury made it a 5-0 contest on a single through the right side from McCausland to drive in Mitchell Schroeder.
• The Panther pitching staff twirled a no-hitter through 5.2 innings. Phillip Li broke up the bid in the sixth for RPI, looping a single to left center and eventually scoring on a Middlebury miscue to pull to within 5-1.
• The hosts pushed the lead back to five (6-1) in the bottom of the inning when Jack Stolper started the frame by smacking a twisting double to left. He came around to score on a single through the right side by Chris Borter.
• Middlebury's offense added three runs in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run base hit to right center from Stolper and Borter who was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, for a 9-1 lead.
• RPI scored twice in the eighth on a run-scoring double down the left-field line by Ryan Brewer and added a run in the ninth when George Rainer scurried home on a wild pitch for the final 9-4 score.

NOTES

• John Collins increased his hitting streak to five games, while Sammy Smith has collected a base hit in four straight.
• McCausland went 2-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. The two hits push his season batting average to .448 and he takes over the top spot in the NESCAC. McCausland's 42 RBI also rank first among his conference peers.
• Middlebury and RPI squared off for the 59th time and the second matchup this season. The Panthers own a 32-27 edge in the all-time series and have won the last seven meetings. The two teams faced off earlier this year with Middlebury winning 5-4 in New York.