The Middlebury baseball team raced out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back en route to a 5-3 win at Amherst in the series opener of a NESCAC West weekend.

HIGHLIGHTS

• With two outs on the board in the first inning, Kyle McCausland walked and Anthony Pellagrini launched a single, before both touched home on a double to left center from Gus Parker for a 2-0 edge. 
• The Panthers increased their lead to 3-0 in the following frame. Carter Chi led off with a two-base knock down the right-field line, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brayden Mathews.
• The Mammoths got one back in their half when Ryan McIntyre touched home on a single to center by Justin Orridge to make it 3-1.
• Middlebury tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Joe Basso reached on an error and advanced on the play, before rounding third on an Owen Fox single and touching the plate on a sacrifice fly from Mathews. Fox stole second and raced home on the next play when Nathan Samii drove a single up the middle for the 5-1 advantage.
• Aiden Dubetsky singled to left, driving in Charlie LaFraniere to slice the deficit to three (5-2) in Amherst's half of the inning.
• The Mammoths threatened to take the game in the bottom of the ninth. Michael Perales touched the plate on a base-knock from Jack Boyle, but Middlebury held on for the 5-3 final.

NOTES

• Kunal Handa earned his second win of the season on the mound, while Dylan Knightly tallied his first save.
• The programs played for the 76th time.

Middlebury and Amherst take to the diamond with a doubleheader on Saturday to close out the series, with the first pitch slated for 12:00 p.m.