The Middlebury baseball team starts its 2025 season on Saturday, March 1 when it travels to Georgia for a three-game set against Emory. Last spring, the Panthers tallied a program-record 32 wins and their third NESCAC Championship, while making their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. 

Middlebury returns familiar faces in the outfield from a year ago. Kyle McCausland was an All-NESCAC First Team selection for the second-straight season. On the national stage, the outfield secured a spot on the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) First Team All-Region and D3baseball.com Second Team All-Region squads. The Panther led or was tied for the league lead in home runs (12), runs batted in (RBI) (50) and total bases (100). The outfielder also paced the team with a .629 slugging percentage. He enters his senior year as Middlebury's career record holder in RBI (138) and homers (28). 

Also patrolling the outfield is Gus Parker. During his first year in a Panther uniform, he appeared in 36 contests with 19 starts. He collected 20 hits in 71 at-bats with five doubles, two roundtrippers and 17 RBI. Parker swiped 11 bases in 13 attempts and had a .980 fielding percentage with 48 putouts.

Nathan Samii and Anthony Pellagrini return to the Panther infield. Appearing in all 38 contests with 34 starts, the corner infielder was tied for second on the squad in doubles (11), triples (three) and walks (26), and knocked in 29 runs for a share of fourth. Pellagrini saw playing time in the field and on the mound in his first season. He tallied four official at-bats with three hits at the plate with two doubles and a homer. Pellagrini went 1-0 with a pair of saves in eight appearances over 10.1 innings pitched, recording a 3.48 earned run average (ERA).

Ben Slaughter saw action in eight games with six starts behind the plate, collecting six hits in 22 at-bats with a double and a homer.

Justin Lessing garnered a D3baseball.com All-American Fourth Team selection last spring after securing all-region first team, NESCAC Pitcher of the Year and all-conference first-team accolades. He led the NESCAC with a 1.99 ERA and struck out a conference-best 76 batters. Tallying a 5-1 mark, Lessing sat tied atop the NESCAC in complete games (three) and second in innings pitched (58.2). 

Owen Tross paced the staff in starts (12) and innings pitched (74.2), recording a 6-3 record and striking out 61 batters. He tossed a complete-game effort against Tufts in the first contest of the NESCAC Championship. Charlie Kutz is a lefthander who saw action in 17 games with a pair of starts, tallying a 1-2 record with 28 innings pitched and struck out 35 batters. 

Leonard returns for his ninth year guiding the program and welcomes 11 first-year players to the mix. He is assisted by Mike Phelps while welcoming back Devin Burke and adding Garrett Eddy to the coaching staff.