CALIFORNIA — The Middlebury College baseball team won three times in five games in recent action during its spring break trip to California between March 24 and 27.
The Panthers (4-7) were set to play at Redlands on Wednesday before playing a three-game set vs. league foe Williams this Friday and Saturday, also in California.
On March 24 host Chapman edged the Panthers, 5-3, after taking a 5-0 lead off loser Colby Morris (1-2) in the first three innings. Morris tossed a complete game, allowing two earned runs on four hits over eight innings. 
Middlebury scored twice in the fourth on a Hayden Smith walk, a stolen base, one of two Justin Han singles, and a Kevin Woodring double. In the sixth Sam Graf doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Alan Guild’s groundout.
On Sunday the Panthers split two games. In the first game they defeated Chapman, 10-8, in 10 innings. In the 10th, Smith walked, moved to second on a bunt, and scored on a Guild double. Pinch runner Henry Strmecki took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Brooks Carroll sacrifice fly. 
George Goldstein picked up his first career win with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. Starter Will Oppenheim also threw well, giving up just three hits and striking out six. Han had three hits and drove in three runs, Phil Bernstein poked a three-run homer, Carroll had two hits and scored twice, Woodring and Grant Elgarten each doubled and singled, and Graf singled twice and drove in a run.
Later in the day, Pomona-Pitzer broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the eighth off losing pitcher Bobby Sullivan for a 4-2 win. In the ninth, Han doubled and Guild homered to produce the Panther runs. Colin Waters threw seven scoreless, three-hit innings for the Panthers, and Han and Strmecki had two hits apiece.
On Monday the Panthers defeated host Whittier, 6-4, in 10 innings. Carroll led off the top of the 10th with a tiebreaking solo homer, and Han scored an insurance run: He was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on an error. Jack Miller picked up his first career win, allowing one run and four hits over three innings of relief. Goldstein recorded his first career save with a scoreless 10th inning.
Earlier, Smith scored on the front end of a double steal in the fourth, and the Panthers scored three runs in the fifth on a Han double and singles by Bernstein, Drew Coash and Smith. Smith led the Panthers with three hits.
On Tuesday Middlebury rallied for an 8-5 win over Caltech, which took an early 4-0 lead.
Middlebury made it 4-3 with three runs in the third. Sebastian Sanchez singled, and Carroll walked and moved up on a bunt before Han singled them in. Sam Graf later singled to drive in Han.
Hamilton Evans homered in the fourth to tie the game, but the Beavers retook the lead in the bottom of the inning. Middlebury tied the game in the fifth, when Smith was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice. 
The Panthers staged the winning three-run rally in the seventh. Carroll walked and scored on an error, and Elgarten doubled in the second run. He scored on an error on an Andrew Hennings infield single. 
Robert Erickson (1-0) picked up the win with 4.2 innings of three-hit relief, and Morris earned his first career save with a scoreless ninth.