The Middlebury baseball team (8-7-0) downed Castleton 6-2 in its home-opener at Forbes Field on Tuesday afternoon. The win was head coach Mike Leonard's 200th in his career. The Panthers are back in action on Wednesday when they host Union at 4:00 p.m., while the Spartans (5-11-1) head to Skidmore on the same day.

Middlebury jumped out to a 1-0 edge in its first at-bat. Alec Ritch singled up the middle and Mitchell Schroeder ripped a base hit through the left side to start the inning, before Ritch stole third and scampered home on a throwing error by the catcher.

Castleton knotted the game in the top of the second. Evan Keegan singled, before later scoring on a sacrifice fly by Addison Schaub.

The Panthers took a 2-1 edge in the bottom of the third. Ritch smacked a double to right center that hit at the base of the fence, advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt and crossed home plate on a double by Schroeder. Middlebury threatened to score again later in the inning with runners on the corners, but Castleton worked itself out of the jam with a double play.

Andrew Ashley led off the fourth with a home run over the right-field fence to make it 3-1.

The Spartans cut the deficit to one (3-2) in the top of the sixth. Keegan walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and reached third on a single by Jackson Cardozo. Schaub followed Cardozo with a hard hit through the left side to drive in Keegan. Henry Gustavson entered in relief for Middlebury, striking out the final batter to end the inning.

With two outs in the sixth, Beau Root pinch hit and blasted the ball through the right side to drive home Zip Malley and send Lucas Flemming to third. Root stole second and Ritch walked to load bases, but Castleton was able to record the final out of the inning to keep the Panther lead at 4-2.

In the top of the eighth, the Spartans had runners on first and third with two outs, but Middlebury recorded the final out to keep the visitors without a run scored.

In the Panther half of the inning, Flemming reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and advanced to third on an error. Chris Borter smacked a double to right center to bring home Flemming, before touching home on a single by Ritch to make it 6-2.

George Goldstein came in to pitch for the ninth inning, striking out a pair of Spartans to secure the 6-2 win for Middlebury.

Alex Rosario improved to 3-1 on the mound for the Panthers, striking out three over 5.1 innings of work. Gustavson was phenomenal during the middle stretch of the game, allowing just two hits while striking out five over two innings of work. Goldstein finished the game with two strikeouts in the ninth. Stephen Coffey suffered the loss for Castleton, allowing four runs on 10 hits over the opening six innings.

Ritch went 2-3 at the plate, recording a double and an RBI. Ashley and Borter were both 1-1, with Ashley collecting his first homer of the season. Schroeder had three hits, a double and an RBI during the win.

Keegan scored twice with three hits for the Spartans, while Schaub had a pair of hits and two RBI.