HAMPTON, Va. -- Starting pitcher Max Olmsted flirted with a perfect game as the Castleton University baseball team earned a 7-4 road nonconference victory over The Apprentice School Thursday evening at the War Memorial Stadium. With the win today, the Spartans improve to 7-4 while the Builders, an NAIA school, fall to 13-6.

Olmsted, who earned his second win of the season, pitched a gem as he did not allow a baserunner through seven innings of play. The junior from East Montpelier, Vt., ran into some trouble in the bottom half of the eighth inning but finished his day with six strikeouts.

After a scoreless first inning, the Spartans struck first in the top half of the second inning. Starting pitcher Tyler Winegrad began the inning with a John Stewart III groundout and an Evan Keegan strikeout. Samuel Rodriguez collected the Spartans' second hit of the game as he singled through the right side of the infield. After Alex Borsari was hit by a pitch, Reece De Castro ripped a single to right field, scoring Rodriguez who slid safely into home plate right before the tag was assessed.   

Rodriguez recorded his best performance of the season so far as he collected three hits in four plate appearances while tallying two RBI's.

The Spartans added to the lead in the top half of the fourth inning as Stewart led off the inning with a double down the left-field line. Keegan followed that up with a single to right field and with runners on the corners, Rodriguez collected his first RBI of the game as he singled through the left side of the infield, giving the Spartans a 2-0 lead.

In a wild fifth inning, the Spartans extended the lead on mistakes created by the Builders. After Jeremy Johnson punched a single through the left side, he reached second base as Davis Mikell reached on a fielder's choice as the Builders failed to turn a double play.

After a Daniel Petrie sacrifice bunt that moved the runners over to second and third, Stewart hit a tapper to first base and Maxwell Burcham attempted to get the runner at the plate. However, a fielding error by the catcher Jake Day allowed Johnson to slide in safely. Keegan followed that up with an RBI sacrifice fly out to center field as the Spartans took a 4-0 lead.

The eighth inning saw the Spartans take a commanding 7-0 lead over the Builders. Keegan, who went 3-4 with one RBI in tonight's contest, led off the inning with a double that was torched down the left-field line. Rodriguez tallied his third of the game as he collected an RBI single, giving the Spartans a 5-0 lead. After Borsari reached on a fielder's choice, Ryan Lawrence collected a two-RBI single as the Spartans blew the game wide open.

The Builders came alive in the eighth inning, however, as the team tallied four runs in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Thomas Packert started off the rally with a leadoff triple that broke up Olmsted's perfect game. A throwing error on the play by De Castro allowed Packert to score as the Builders cut the lead to 7-1.

After Olmsted collected his fifth strikeout the game, Braden Lambert crushed a towering solo home run to left field as the Builders slowly cut into the deficit. Olmsted allowed two more runs in the inning as he was pulled and Thomas Fish came in for relief. Fish collected the final out of the inning on a pop out to the catcher as the Builders' rally was foiled.

Olmsted's final line was 7.2 innings pitched, allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits while not giving up a walk. 

Fish pitched around a leadoff double and a walk as he recorded the final out of the game, earning his first save of the season with the tying run at the plate. With the win, the Spartans collected their third straight victory.