BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Trinity College Baseball team fell to Middlebury College, 5-4, on a walk-ff hit in their opening game of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Baseball Championship weekend at Pickard Baseball Diamond Friday afternoon. The Bantams move to 20-16 on the season, while the Panthers improve to 25-11 overall.
 
Following two scoreless innings, the Bantam bats started cranking in the third inning as Dylan Schnitzer brought home Adam Niman with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to give Trinity the 1-0 lead. Andrew Park delivered an RBI single through the right side, and then Aidan Stern scored Schnitzer on an RBI groundout to extend the lead to 3-0.
 
The Panthers chipped away at the gap as Aiden Han logged an RBI groundout in the bottom of the third to make it a 3-1 game. Trinity starter Joe Capano retired the next eight Panther batters, and then Park added an RBI groundout in the sixth to help Trinity maintain a 4-1 advantage. The Panthers made it a one-run game in the bottom of the seventh as RBI knocks from Brayden Mathews and Carter Chi trimmed the deficit to 4-3.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, Gus Parker singled and then scored during a Bantams error on a double from Mathews to knot the game at 4-4, and then Han brought home Mathews as the deciding run on a single to left field, sending Middlebury to the 5-4 win.
 
Park tallied a pair of hits and a pair of RBIs, while Tyler Bernstein went 1-for-3 for two runs scored and a stolen base. Schnitzer scored and drove in a run, while William Sawyer and Aidan Stevenson added hits. Capano registered a career-high 8.1 innings of work, allowing five runs, two earned, on seven hits with six strikeouts.
 
The Bantams will be back on the diamond to keep their Championship hopes alive as they face the loser of the game between Williams College and Colby College in an elimination game at Pickard Field Saturday morning. First pitch is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.