Tiger baseball sinks Commodores

The Middlebury Union High School baseball team took an early lead against visiting rival Vergennes Union High School on Tuesday, and then broke the game open with a five-run fifth inning on the way to an 11-1 victory. The game was ended on the 10-run mercy rule after six innings. 

In recent high school baseball play, the Vergennes and Middlebury union teams each split recent games, with the Tigers earning their first spring victory, while Otter Valley won once in three outings, losing to top teams. 

Visiting Fair Haven used two big innings and a complete-game effort from sophomore pitcher Mason Gutel to get past the Middlebury Union High School baseball team on Tuesday, 9-3.

Otter Valley, Mount Abraham and Vergennes all posted wins in recent high school baseball play. One of OV’s wins was at the Eagles’ expense, but Mount Abe bounced back to win twice. The Commodores’ victory was their first of the spring. 

Mount Abraham broke into the win column behind a pitching gem to provide the only highlight for the area’s high school baseball teams in recent action. 

“I think my passion for baseball started when I was four or five and my dad gave me a baseball card — a card of Albert Belle (a star for the Cleveland Indians),” Freddy Mosier told me over a beer at Fire and Ice last Sunday evening. 

Middlebury and Mt. Abraham each came up short against Division I visitors, VUHS dropped three games, but OV wins.

The Otter Valley Union High School baseball team snapped a 4-4 tie with a four-run sixth inning on Monday to defeat visiting Leland & Grey. OV evened its record at 1-1 with the victory, while the Rebels dropped what was their opener.

The Middlebury College baseball team swept three games from visiting Bowdoin this past weekend, and then defeated Norwich in a non-league game on Tuesday to improve to 14-7. The Panthers scored in double digits in all four outings.

Visiting Burr & Burton on Tuesday dealt the Otter Valley Union High School baseball team a 12-2 setback in the opener for both teams. 

Middlebury College on Sunday celebrated its newly renovated Baseball and Softball Complex with a ceremony that included donors, parents, both teams and college officials.

It’s not unusual to see the Middlebury College baseball team enjoy a successful homestand such as the one that concluded on Tuesday with two wins in three outings.

The school was abuzz when I arrived. Students crowded around me, their enthusiasm barely contained. I was their English teacher and coach — and on this day in February 1975 their hero and exemplar. 

Mike Leonard and Scott Langerman are friends — friends and colleagues. Together, they offered a Winter Term course at Middlebury College this January, “Sports and Society: How Sports Transcend Their Sidelines.” 

Cornwall’s Roth “T” Tall, consummate Baltimore Oriole fan, opened the Rotary Club meeting at Rosie’s Restaurant with a eulogy for Brooks Robinson.