Hamilton College Baseball team can't complete rally in slugfest with Middlebury

Photo is courtesy of Hamilton College

The Hamilton College baseball team opened a NESCAC West Division weekend series against the visiting Middlebury College Panthers Friday at Royce Field, losing 14-12. The Continentals fought back from a five-run seventh-inning deficit to pull to within a run and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth.

Chris Collins '17 hit a pair of three-run home runs among his five hits, driving in seven runs. His second homer brought the hosts from a 13-9 deficit to 13-12 in the bottom of the seventh.

In the bottom of the ninth Dean Rosenberg '18 reached on a one-out single to center but the Panthers
retired the final two hitters to seal the win.

Hamilton falls to 11-8 overall and 1-3 in the division. The Panthers are now 7-11 on the season with a 4-3 NESCAC West Division mark.

Chris Collins finished five-for-five with four runs scored and three singles in addition to his first two career home runs.

The Continentals had scored seven straight runs over the first four innings to carry a 7-2 lead into the fifth but Middlebury exploded for 10 runs, taking advantage of five Hamilton errors in the inning.

Ryan Wolfsberg '17, David Rose '16 and Chris Collins powered the Continentals to their early 7-2 lead. Rose tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of walks to Kenny Collins '17 and Brett Mele '17 that loaded the bases after Chris Collins' one-out single. Rose doubled down the left field line and an inning later Chris Collins broke the tie with a single to right field that followed a two-out double by Wolfsberg. The Continentals' leading hitter on the season, Wolfsberg finished with three hits and three runs scored.

In the fourth, singles by Jordan Northrup '19 and Rosenberg put two men on for Wolfsberg, who doubled to left field for a run and Chris Collins followed with a home run down the left field line to put the Continentals up 7-2.

Middlebury's big fifth inning included a pair of run-scoring singles by John Luke – who had two of the Panthers' seven hits in the inning. Drew Coash led off the inning with a double and later tripled in a run. Joe MacDonald and Max Araya both singled home runs.

Luke, MacDonald and Jake Turtel each had three of Middlebury's 17 hits. MacDonald drove in four runs including a two-run single in the opening inning after the first three Panthers reached base to start the game. Johnny Read scored three times.

The Panthers extended their lead 13-7 in the sixth when Raj Palekar hit his first home run of the season.

Chris Collins' second home run capped a seventh inning that saw Hamilton score four times with two outs. Cooper Halpern '19 brought home the first run with a pinch-hit single that scored Rose, who'd drawn a lead-off walk.

Brendan Donohue pitched a scoreless ninth for Middlebury to earn his first save. Conor Himstead, the second of four Panther pitchers, was the winning pitcher after allowing one run in a 2.1-inning stint of one-hit relief.

Center fielder Sam Graf helped preserve the win with a pair of diving catches in right-center field.