MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – An early deficit was too much for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team to climb out of on Wednesday afternoon, as they were defeated by the Middlebury College Panthers by a final score of 9-4. With the loss, RPI falls to 19-11-1 overall, while Middlebury improves to 17-7 overall.
 
It was all Middlebury through the first five innings of the game, as they opened a 5-0 lead as the Engineers offense struggled to get something going at the plate. A home run from Lucas Flemming punctuated the first half of the game, a two-run shot in the fourth inning.
 
RPI broke through with a run in the sixth inning, as Martin Marintchev put a ball in play that was thrown away at first. That allowed Phillip Li to score making it 5-1 Middlebury. However, the Panthers responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth and a few more in the seventh, opening a 9-1 lead after the bottom of the seventh.
 
Ryan Brewer added an RBI double in the eighth that scored a pair, as well as run scored by George Rainer on a wild pitch brought the score to 9-4 in the ninth, but Middlebury closed the door for the win.
 
Aidan Hicks, Li, and Brewer had the lone hits for the Engineers, while the RPI pitching staff struck out 10 while walking only three. Cameron Heuer pitched a perfect eighth inning for RPI, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
 
Four Panthers collected a pair of hits, while four others collected two RBI's apiece. Freddy Mosier pitched two innings to open the game, facing one over the minimum striking out one and walking just one. He earned his first win of the season as six Panthers took the mound.
 
The Engineers return to action next Saturday, April 22 starting at 12 p.m. when they return home to Robison Field to take on Bard in Liberty League play.