MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College baseball team took a break from league play with a 7-2 loss to Middlebury College at Forbes Field on Tuesday. The Purple Knights slipped to 9-22, while the Panthers, who did all of their scoring in the second inning, are 2-17.

Sophomore Steven Auger (Hopkinton, N.H./Hopkinton) was 3-for-4 with a run, a stolen base and his program-record 10th hit-by-pitch of the season for Saint Michael's. Senior Nicky Elderton (Shelburne, Vt./Rice Memorial) knocked two doubles while going 2-for-4 with one run, tying the program mark of 82 career runs and moving his total bases count to a school-record 200, eclipsing Sean Finnell's '94 old standard of 199. Classmate George Buteau (Burlington, Vt./Trinity-Pawling School) and sophomore Drew Salk (Billerica, Mass./Billerica Memorial) both drove in a run, with Salk socking a double.

Junior John Mielke (Boxboro, Mass./Acton-Boxboro Regional) was the hard-luck loser, allowing all seven runs, but just one of which was earned, on five hits in two innings. He struck out two. First-year Zack Lanzillo (Rutland, Vt./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) spun six shutout innings out of the bullpen, yielding four hits while striking out three and walking three.

Senior Dylan Sinnickson (Sands Point, N.Y./Hotchkiss) led Middlebury by going 2-for-4 with a run, two RBIs and a double, while junior Joe MacDonald (Pepperell, Mass./Groton School) was 2-for-4 with a run, an RBI and a double. Senior Eric Truss (Port Washington, N.Y./Chaminade) picked up the win after allowing one run on six hits in six innings, striking out four. Classmate Cooper Byrne (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) earned the save with three innings of relief, as he yielded one run on three hits and struck out three.

Auger led off the game by being hit by a pitch before moving up on a groundout and scoring thanks to a one-out RBI single into center field from Buteau. The Panthers went to work in the second, scoring all seven runs on five hits and three errors. MacDonald's double started the action, and his RBI single plated the final run later in the inning, around Sinnickson's key two-run double with two out.

Auger led off the third with a single before stealing second and being stranded, and Auger and senior Michael Dougherty (Albany, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy/Schenectady County CC) both singled with two down in the fifth but were left at third and second, respectively. Elderton led off the sixth with a double before being left at third, but he rapped another double in the eighth, this time with one down, and Salk followed with a double as the next batter. Now down 7-2, the final five Purple Knights were retired in order.

Saint Michael's returns to action at home tomorrow, taking on Saint Anselm College in the completion of a suspended game at 2 p.m. before playing the Hawks in a regularly-scheduled contest. The suspended game is scoreless heading into the top of the sixth inning, with the Purple Knights as the visiting team.