Baseball (22-15, 7-5 NESCAC) concluded its postseason run with a 10-6 loss to the Middlebury Panthers (27-11, 10-2 NESCAC) in the NESCAC championship game, hosted by Bowdoin on Sunday. Earlier in the weekend, the Ephs played the Colby Mules (23-14, 7-5 NESCAC) twice and the Panthers once.
The NESCAC Tournament format for baseball is unique: the top eight teams in the conference play their quarterfinals in a best-of-three series, and the four teams that advance play in a double-elimination tournament the following weekend. The Ephs defeated the Bowdoin Polar Bears (24-11, 7-5 NESCAC) last weekend to advance to the double-elimination portion, where they first played Colby. After defeating the Mules 13-4 on Friday, the Ephs fell to the Panthers 7-1 on Saturday. They then stormed back for an 8-7 comeback victory on Sunday morning in another game against the Mules in the semifinals, qualifying them for the final.
In their final matchup against the Panthers on Sunday, the Ephs built a 6-2 lead, but were eventually overcome by a late-game rally from the Panthers. This comeback mirrored the turnarounds that have led the Ephs to overcome deficits in several games throughout this season, according to co-captain James O’Connor ’25. “They flipped it on us, kind of like we had been doing all year with a lot of other teams,” he said. In the NESCAC quarterfinals, for instance, they beat the Polar Bears 16-9, overcoming a 7-0 deficit, and in the semifinals they secured an 8-7 victory over Colby, recovering from a 6-1 deficit.
This Sunday, the Ephs took a second-inning lead when Oliver Rey ’28 hit a deep sacrifice fly to bring in Luca Lopetrone ’26, who had singled and moved up the bases after a hit from Ryan Nakajima ’27.
However, the Panthers scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 advantage.
The Ephs responded with an offensive surge in the top of the third. Ben Swank ’28 led with a double and Marcus Burrell ’27 followed with a two-run home run to reclaim the lead, 3-2. Henry Juan ’25 extended the lead to 4-2 with a solo home run. Then, Nakajima drove Lopetrone home with a triple and then scored himself on a passed ball, to give the Ephs a 6-2 lead.
Ultimately, Middlebury emerged victorious after Carter Chi delivered a clutch seventh-inning grand slam to put them in front, 8-6. A few batters later, Kyle McCausland added insurance for the Panthers with a two-run blast of his own, and the game ended in this 10-6 scoreline.
While the loss was disappointing for the Ephs, this year’s performance showed significant improvement from their previous season. “Coming from last year where we didn’t even make the playoffs, to this year being runner-ups, we’re definitely proud of ourselves for making it that far,” Burrell said.
O’Connor said that a shift in mindset helped fuel the Ephs’ strong performance this season. “In general, the first three years that I was here, we didn’t perform great and had a lot of disappointing seasons,” he said. “It was easy to make excuses, … but I think this year, our focus was just on making sure that we didn’t make excuses about anything and — like a common phrase in baseball — taking it one pitch at a time.”
Adaptability also played a key role in the Ephs’ success over the weekend. “We had a lot of people … who were able to make themselves available in positions they hadn’t played before or playing through injuries and whatever capacity they could,” O’Connor said.
Next year, the Ephs hope to emerge victorious at the NESCAC Championships and compete in the NCAA Tournament, according to Burrell. He believes that the strength of the incoming first-year recruits may help the Ephs maintain their momentum going into the next season. “Our seniors are talented,” he said. “We’re losing a few guys [who] definitely had a big impact. But our incoming class is supposed to be really good — a lot of pitching depth. With them, plus the talent that we already have, the goal is definitely to be better and win the [NESCACs].”
