CASTLETON, Vt. – Castleton opened the North Atlantic Conference Tournament in winning fashion this morning with a 5-3 victory over the Thomas Terriers at Spartan Field.
The Terriers had runners in scoring position with two out in the top of the ninth, but Michael LaBeau was able to get Nik Beeson to groundout to short to close out the game. The Spartans now stand at 30-10 on the season, while Thomas drops to 20-18 overall. Castleton will be back in action tomorrow at 1:30 pm, whereas the Terriers will now face the loser of game two between Husson and Maine-Farmington later this afternoon.
The Spartans outhit the opposition 9-8 in the game, led by Mitchell Caron and Dillon Benham, who recorded two hits apiece. Dan Errico hit his third home run of the season, while Nick Swim went 1-for-4 on the day with one RBI. For Thomas, Beeson and Derek Mathieu drove in one run apiece, whereas Derek Kane was the lone player to deliver a multi-hit performance with a 2-for-5 display.
Sam Spencer picked up his seventh win of the season after tossing eight innings of three-run baseball with just six hits allowed and seven strikeouts. LaBeau picked up his first save of the season after tossing a scoreless ninth. Matt Rutherford took the loss despite a solid performance, going 5.2 innings with five runs allowed and four walks.
After a scoreless first, Benham drove home the first run of the day in the bottom of the 2nd to give Castleton an early lead. With runners on the corners and two outs, the freshman ripped an RBI single up the middle to put the hosts in front, 1-0.
Thomas tied it up in the top of the third, but the Spartans responded with three runs in the bottom half of the frame to reclaim the lead. Taylor Vile reach base with a walk before Swim ripped a double to deep right-center to bring him home. Errico followed with a two-run shot to left to hand Castleton a 4-1 advantage.
The Spartans extended their lead to four in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Vile. The senior second baseman ripped a grounder down the line that the third baseman missed, bringing Nick Patierne home to make it 5-1. Castleton went on to load the bases later in the frame, but Dominic Esposito got Errico to fly out to deep right-center to end the scoring threat.
Spencer was cruising until the top of the eighth inning when the Terriers scored two runs from four hits to cut their deficit back to two. Kane began the rally with a liner through the right side before Beeson ripped an RBI double to deep right-center. Mathieu followed with a run-scoring single to chip away at the Spartan lead and make it 5-3.
Thomas seemed poised to tie the game in the top of the ninth after a pair of base runners reached second and third with two outs, but LaBeau was able to able to close out the game with a groundout to the shortstop and seal a 5-3 Castleton victory.