SWARTHMORE, Penn. — The Middlebury College baseball team swept a Sunday doubleheader from Swarthmore, 4-2 and 9-2, to improve to 3-2 on the season. The Panthers now head to California for a series of games starting this coming Sunday at Chapman.

In this past Sunday’s opener, Alex Price tossed a seven-inning complete game to earn the win, allowing five hits, walking none and striking out nine. Swarthmore took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a solo homer, and then the Panthers erupted for all four of its runs in the top of the sixth, with Kyle McCausland’s three-run homer the key blow.

Beau Root started the rally with a walk, then John Collins singled. Jack Stolper reached on an error, picking up an RBI when Root scored on the play, and then he and Collins trotted home when McCausland cleared the fence. Swarthmore got one run back in the bottom of the seventh before Price slammed the door.

The Panthers also got a big homer during the nightcap, a David Byrne grand slam, and five innings of one-hit baseball from Justin Lessing, who earned the win by fanning eight and walking two.   

Both teams scored once in the first, with a sacrifice fly from McCausland plating the Panther run.

In the second inning, Middlebury scored twice on RBI singles from Byrne and Baker Angstman, and they added a run in the third when Stolper walked and scored on a Byrne groundout for a 4-1 edge.

Swarthmore cut the deficit to 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth, but the Panthers put the game out of reach with five runs in the seventh. Root was hit by a pitch and came home on a single from Stolper before Byrne capped the scoring by blasting his grand slam over the left field fence.