Castleton, Vt. - The second-seeded Castleton Spartans baseball team gave up six runs in the eighth inning, supplanting any hope of a comeback victory, and fell to seventh seed Elms College 9-3 on Wednesday, May 8 at Spartan Field.

Allen White and Matt McNamee each finished with two hits on the day, while White notched an RBI for the Spartans. Patrick Riley tossed eight innings and took the loss for the home team, falling to 6-6 on the year.

In the top of the first inning, Elms' freshman left fielder Dan McCormack led off the frame with a single through the left side, advanced to third when freshman shortstop Nolan Medeiros reached on a throwing error and then scored on a groundout by junior catcher Zachary Dreher. A single by junior designated hitter Sam Farnsworth allowed Medeiros to come home with the second run of the frame before Castleton was able to get out the jam using a fielder's choice and a groundout.

Blazers' senior pitcher John Russell cruised through the first five innings before the Spartans scored in the home half of the sixth frame. Ryan Zielinski connected for a leadoff base hit, stole second, advanced to third on a fly out and then scored on an RBI groundout by Connor Hoagland to pull the Spartans to within one at 2-1.

Elms extended its lead back to two in the top of the seventh when senior center fielder Stephen Fisher laced a leadoff double to deep center, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by junior first baseman Alex King and then scored on an RBI fielder's choice by sophomore third baseman Geoffrey Frost to set the score at 3-1. Spartans' pitcher Patrick Riley then induced a pair of groundouts to keep the difference at two runs.

The Spartans tied the game in the bottom of the seventh frame when Macyn Clifford laced a double to start the stanza and then scored when Allen White singled to right field and then advanced to third on the throw in from the outfield and a Blazers' error. A sacrifice fly by Mat Pause (Hartford, Vt.) allowed White to cross home with the tying run to set the score at 3-3.

The top of the eighth was the Spartans' undoing as the team allowed six runs on four hits, a walk, a hit batsman, and an error. Stephen Fisher, Geoffrey Frost, and Aiden Wajda each ripped two-run doubles to put the Blazers up 9-3. Riley was lifted in favor of Adam Greenlese who pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Castleton.

Russell earned the win for the Blazers allowing three runs (two earned) and scattered six hits in 7.0 innings of work to improve to 3-3 on the season. Elms' freshman Thomas Weldon entered in relief of Russell to start the eighth inning and held the Spartans scoreless through two frames despite loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth.

Farnsworth was 3 for 4 with an RBI, while Frost drove in three runs to highlight his 1 for 4 effort at the dish. Fisher was 2 for 5 with two runs scored and two RBI.

Castleton concludes its season with a 28-14 overall record.