TUCSON, Ariz. — Williams swept a three-game NESCAC West series in Tucson from the Middlebury College baseball team on this past Friday and Saturday, leaving the Panthers at 0-9 heading into a three-game set scheduled for this weekend at Amherst. Williams improved to 6-3, 3-0 in league play.
On this past Friday, Middlebury dropped game one vs. Williams 13-12 via a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Panthers took at 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning on RBI singles by Ryan Rizzo and Dylan Sinnickson. The Ephs took the lead with four runs in the bottom of the frame and three more in the home half of the third for a 7-2 advantage.
Middlebury regained the lead with two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth. In the fourth the Panthers scored on a Rizzo sacrifice fly and Max Araya’s RBI single, while in the fifth two-run singles by Rizzo and Johnny Read made it 8-7.
Each team scored a run in the sixth, with Middlebury’s courtesy of a John Luke sacrifice fly. Then the Panthers grabbed a four-run cushion with three in the eighth. Raj Palekar tripled to plate Araya and Brendan Donohue, who had singled, and Garrett Werner singled home Palekar.
Williams made it 12-11 with three runs in the eighth, including an Adam Regensburg homerun.
In the bottom of the ninth, losing pitcher Jake Stalcup — who quelled the eighth-inning rally — recorded the first two outs. But a walk, single, hit batter, and single produced the decisive runs.  
At the plate, Sinnickson and Read each had three hits, two RBIs and three runs; Donohue and Palekar each had two hits and three runs; and Rizzo drove in four runs with two hits. Eric Truss went the first seven innings for Middlebury, giving up 10 runs, seven earned, on 13 hits striking out three and walking a pair.
On Saturday, Williams won, 6-3 and 12-6.
Each team scored in the first inning of the first game, with Sinnickson scoring an unearned run for Middlebury on an RBI groundout by Jason Lock. 
The Panthers took the lead in the top of the third when Lock singled home Sinnickson, who reached on an error, and Read, who singled. But the Ephs answered with two runs in the fourth and two more in the sixth for the win.
Cooper Byrne (0-2) went the distance for Middlebury, allowing six runs on nine hits. Araya and Rizzo each had two hits for Middlebury.
In game two, Robert Erickson started and took the loss. Donohue had two hits and three RBI, Rizzo had two hits and scored twice, Araya hit a two-run single, and Read singled home a run.