DAVENPORT, Fla. -- The Lawrence University baseball team started slow Wednesday and Middlebury College pulled away for a 19-7 nonconference victory at Northeast Regional Park.
    Middlebury pulled out to an 8-1 lead through the top of the fourth inning before Lawrence trimmed the margin to 8-6 after five innings. The Panthers (5-5) then scored 11 times over the final four innings to seal the victory.
    Lawrence (8-6) collected only six hits, and no one had more than one hit. Jacob Charon and Zach Leslie both had doubles for the Vikings.
    Shane Foley made the start for Lawrence but allowed six runs over 1.2 innings and took the loss. Gavin Gattuso gave up two runs over 2.1 innings of relief to get the win for Middlebury.
    The Vikings scored two in the fourth when Leslie was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and Junior Polanco followed with a bases-loaded walk to cut the lead to 8-3. Lawrence added three more runs in the fifth as Charon picked up a run-scoring double, and Tate Hartlaub's sacrifice fly and a throwing error trimmed the lead to 8-6.
    Middlebury then scored three runs in the sixth, two in the seventh and three in both the eighth and ninth.
    Lawrence returns to action on Friday when the Vikings start a three-game Midwest Conference series with Knox College in Florida.