Middlebury, Vt. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams split a high-scoring baseball doubleheader against the Middlebury College Panthers, winning the opener, 13-8, but losing the nightcap, 15-7.  Trinity is now 15-15 and will host Brandeis in a doubleheader for the final home date of the 2016 season tomorrow at noon.  The Panthers move to 11-17.

Middlebury scored three runs in the opening inning of game one. Garrett Werner led off with a bunt single down the first-base line, moved to second when Jake Turtel walked, stole third and scored when the throw to third went into left field. Joe MacDonald drove in the other two runs with a deep two-run homer to left center, making it a 3-0 score.  Trinity got one of the runs back in the second frame when sophomore Cooper Mooney (Southbury, Conn.) doubled down the left-field line, plating senior co-captain C Scott Cullinane (East Greenwich, R.I.). The Bantams tied the game at 3-all an inning later on a RBI triple by rookie 1B Johnny Stamatis (Ridgefield, Conn.) and a sacrifice fly to right field from senior Daniel Pidgeon (Darien, Conn.).

The Panthers scored four times their half of the inning, regaining the lead at 7-3. Sam Graf drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly to right and Brendan Donohue made it 5-3 with a base hit to score MacDonald. The final runs came on a two-run base hit by Phil Bernstein.  The Bantams scored three times to pull within a run at 7-6 in the top of the sixth, while the Panthers got one of those tallies back in their turn at the plate.  Trinity used a seven-run seventh to take its first lead of the game. Pidgeon played a key role in his two at-bats of the inning, driving in a run with a double and plating plating two more with a single to make it a 13-8 margin. 

Pidgeon closed out the win on the mound in the opener, allowing one runner in Middlebury's final turn at the plate.  Brendan Donohue took the loss in relief going only a third of an inning.  Juniro OF Nick Pezzella and Mooney each recorded three hits, while Stamatis was 2-for-3 with a pair of triples. Pidgeon (1-1) was 2-for-4 with four RBI and picked up the win in relief, throwing two scoreless innings.

In the second game, Trinity scored in its initial at bat with a run on a single to center field by Pidgeon.  In the bottom of the frame, the Panthers erupted for seven runs on four hits. MacDonald tied the game at 1-1, dropping a single in right field to score Werner. Max Araya walked with the bases loaded and Graf followed with an RBI single, making it a 3-1 lead. Middlebury added two more runs on wild pitches, Bernstein was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, while the final run came on a ground out by Johnny Read for a 7-1 cushion.

The Bantams responded with five runs in the fourth, with the first coming on a solo home run to left by junior Nick DiBenedetto (Fort Myers, Fla.). Mooney added a two-run single, freshman Ben Reinisch (Troy, N.Y.) drove in another with a double and sophomore Matthew Toth (New Canaan, Conn.) made it a 7-6 game with a pinch-hit RBI single.  Middlebury pushed the margin to four runs at 10-6 in its half of the fourth on a RBI ground out by Luke and a two-run homer to left field by Drew Coash.  The teams traded runs in the fifth, changing the score to 11-7, before the hosts added four more in the sixth to complete the scoring.

Dylan Takamori earned the victory in relief for Middlebury, giving up one unearned run in 3.1 innings with a pair of strikeouts.  Mooney had another solid outing at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI, while first-year OF Ian Steckel (Winchester, Mass.) and sophomore Chris Vultaggio (Groton, Mass.) both had two base hits.  Sophomore McLane Hill (Marlborough, Conn.) dropped to 1-3, suffering the loss for the Bantams without recording an out.