Middlebury Baseball Shuts Out Norwich 4-0 In Home Opener

Photo is courtesy of Middlebury College

Middlebury's Colin Waters tossed a complete-game two-hit shutout as the Panthers posted a 4-0 victory over Norwich on Monday in the home opener at Forbes Field. Waters finished with two strikeouts in nine innings for his first collegiate victory.

Norwich (1-18) threatened to open the scoring in the top of the first, getting runners at second and third with no outs, but Waters retired three straight batters to keep the game scoreless.

The hosts countered in their half of the inning, when John Luke singled to center field scoring Sam
Graf, who opened the inning with an infield hit.

Middlebury (6-10) added another run in the third, extending the advantage to 2-0. Joe MacDonald laced a two-out single to left field to plate Max Araya, who walked with one out.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers pushed their lead to 3-0 by manufacturing a run. Drew Coash led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sebastian Sanchez and scored on a base hit down the right-field line by Johnny Read.

Middlebury finished the scoring in the eighth as Araya led off with a single and moved into scoring position on a failed pick-off attempt. In that same at-bat, Luke belted a double to right, plating Araya.
Waters sent the Cadets down in order in the top of the ninth inning, retiring the final 11 batters he faced in the contest. Throughout the game, he received a couple of sparkling defensive plays to help his cause. Brendan Donohue and Coash each made sliding grabs in the outfield, while Read made a tremendous play deep in the hole at shortstop to throw a runner out at first.

Luke had a big game at the plate for Middlebury, going 3-4 with two RBI, while Araya went 1-3 with a walk and a pair of runs scored.

Brandon Pedley and Mike Lesco each had a hit for Norwich, while seven different pitchers threw at least one inning on the mound. Bran Albert (0-3) pitched the first two innings, taking the loss. Mike Ortiz, Anthony Carter and Peter Madsen each recorded a scoreless inning of relief.