The Middlebury baseball team utilized a seven-run fifth inning for a 16-8 win over Amherst in the rubber match of the NESCAC West series. The Panthers claimed a 5-3 victory on March 28 before the Mammoths secured a seven-inning 8-4 triumph the next day. Monday's contest was originally scheduled for March 29, but was postponed due to weather conditions.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Middlebury jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning. Kyle McCausland roped a one-out double down the left-field line before Nathan Samii followed with a two-run roundtripper to left-center field for a 2-0 advantage.
• Jack Sampedro sliced the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame, lifting a homer that tucked just inside the foul pole in left.
• The Panthers pushed their lead back to a pair (3-1) in the second. Gus Parker drew a leadoff walk and raced around to score on a double that plugged the gap in right center off the bat of Joe Basso.
• Amherst recorded a tally in the second on an RBI double from Aiden Dubetsky and knotted the contest (3-3) an inning later on a run-scoring single by Charlie LaFreniere.
• The Panthers took the lead for good with seven runs on four hits in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run homer by Pablo Spielman-Rodriquez and a grand slam from McCausland, for a 10-3 lead.
• The Mammoths responded with three scores in their next at-bat, touching the plate on a pair of wild pitches and an RBI fielder's choice from LaFrenier to make it 10-6.
• Will Ashley made it an 11-6 contest with a leadoff home run in the seventh to left center, before back-to-back RBI base knocks from Ben Slaughter and Spielman-Rodriquez pushed the advantage to seven.
• Amherst answered with two runs in the home half on a bases-loaded walk by Jack Boyle and a wild pitch to pull within five (13-8).
• Middlebury added three more in the ninth on a sacrifice fly from Slaughter and a two-run blast by Parker for a 16-8 final score.

NOTES

• McCausland's homer was his ninth of the spring, moving him into a tie for fifth place in the program's single-season records. He also tied his career high with four runs scored.
• Samii collected his 14th two-base hit this season, lifting him into a tie for third in a campaign.
• All nine Panthers in the batting order had at least one hit, while eight different players collected a run batted in and scored a run.
• Jacob Sherf picked up the win in relief, improving to 3-0 this season.
• The 10 NESCAC West wins mark the second time in program history with a double-digit victory total.
• The Panthers blasted a season-best five home runs in the triumph.
• The programs squared off for the 78th time with Middlebury winning 10 of the last 14 decisions. 

The Panthers return to competition on Saturday when they travel to Skidmore for a doubleheader with a scheduled first pitch of 12:00 p.m.