The Middlebury baseball team secured the top seed in the NESCAC West with a series sweep against Wesleyan. In the opening game, which started Friday and was suspended due to darkness before finishing Saturday morning, the Panthers outlasted the Cardinals 17-13. Middlebury took both ends of Saturday's twinbill, claiming the opener 8-0 in seven innings and the nightcap by a 7-2 scoreline.
 
FRIDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

• The hosts took a 1-0 edge in the bottom of the third as a sacrifice fly by Cole Torino brought Matt Halas across home plate.
• Middlebury moved into a 2-1 lead in the following frame. Zip Malley drew a one-out walk before David Byrne launched a home run over the left-field fence two batters later to clear the bases.
• The Panthers tacked on a third run in the fifth. Kyle McCausland ripped a double to center and came around to score on a base hit to left by Mitchell Schroeder to make it 3-1.
• The visitors continued to pull away in the sixth, adding four more tallies. Malley led off with a double down the left-field line. Sammy Smith was next up, singling up the middle to plate his teammate, bringing the score to 4-1. Later in the inning with runners on second and third, McCausland continued his strong day, blasting a roundtripper to left center to extend the Middlebury lead to 7-1.
• Wesleyan scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the frame to pull back within two (7-5). 
• In the top of the seventh, the Panthers answered with two more runs as Smith sent a two-run homer over the fence in left center to make it 9-5. The Cardinals responded with a two-RBI roundtripper of their own in the bottom of the seventh Luke LaSaracina sent a ball over the wall to keep it a two-run contest (9-7).
• The teams traded runs in the eighth. Beau Root increased Middlebury's advantage to 10-7, crossing the plate on a wild pitch before the Cardinals sliced the deficit back to two (10-8) on a base hit by Connor Sullivan brought Evan Diaz home. 
• The Panthers tacked on seven runs in the ninth. With the bases loaded, Smith continued his hot hitting, driving in three runs with a bases-clearing double to center to take a five-run lead (13-8). Root, Chris Borter and McCausland followed with RBI singles, while Baker Angstman drove in a run on a fielder's choice for a 17-8 advantage.
• The Cardinals wouldn't go away, scoring five times in the bottom of the frame highlighted by a two-run single from Sullivan to pull within 17-13. Reliever Anthony Pellagrini came in and shut down the hosts, recording a strikeout to end the game to give the Panthers a four-run win.

SATURDAY'S GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Root led off with a single to right and eventually scored on a base knock by Borter. The Panther later touched home plate on a wild pitch, while McCausland singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Ashley for a three-run advantage.
• Wesleyan loaded the bases in the bottom of the stanza, but Middlebury starter Justin Lessing struck out a pair of batters to maintain the 3-0 lead.
• The score remained that way until the top of the seventh when the Panthers tacked on five runs. Bryne was hit by a pitch and Borter reached on a fielder's choice, as both scored when McCausland launched a three-run homer over the fence for a 6-0 edge. A two-run blast by Gus Parker drove in pinch runner Cooper Bohlig for an 8-0 lead.
• Lessing set down the Cardinals in order in the bottom of the frame, including a pair of strikeouts, for the final 8-0 tally.

SATURDAY'S GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS

• The Panthers jumped ahead again in their first time to the plate, as McCausland tripled and scored on an RBI single from Schroeder for a 1-0 lead.
• Middlebury posted three more tallies in the second, as Root legged out a run-scoring infield hit and Borter drove in two more with a base knock to make it 4-0.
• Keeping their foot on the accelerator, Ben Slaughter and Angstman both singled in the third and the pair raced home on a triple off the bat of Lucas Flemming for the six-run advantage. 
• The Cardinals got on the scoreboard in the fifth when LaSaracina homered to make it 6-1.
• Middlebury answered in the sixth when Borter lifted his fourth roundtripper of the season over the left-field wall for a 7-1 lead.
• Wesleyan made it a five-run contest in the eighth, as Ernie Little reached on an error and eventually came into score on a base hit by Will Moore for the final 7-2 tally.

NOTES

• McCausland went a combined 7-for-12 at the plate during the sweep. He scored five runs and had seven RBI to go along with a double, a triple, two homers and three walks.
• Lessing logged his third-straight complete game, allowing just two hits and striking out 11 to improve to 5-0 this season and 10-0 for his career.
• Sawyer Duarte was superb on the mound in game two, hurling a career-high eight innings. He gave up two runs on five hits and tallied seven strikeouts. Kunal Handa 
• Smith's six RBI in the first contest are a career best. He also launched his 15th career home, moving him into fifth place in the program's record books.
• Root swiped his 50th career stolen base during Saturday's first contest.
• The programs played for the 94th, 95th and 96th meetings in the all-time series. Middlebury has won seven of the last nine.

The Panthers return to competition on Monday when they entertain Union at 4:00 p.m.