Lewiston, Maine - Visiting Trinity College completed a three-game sweep of the Bates College Bobcats baseball team, with all three games decided by one run, this afternoon with a 3-2 seven-inning win in game one and a 12-11 victory in nine innings in game two. The Bantams rose to 17-13 overall and 8-4 in NESCAC East Division play, while Bates fell to 11-14 overall, 2-7 in the NESCAC East, and was eliminated from postseason contention. The defending NESCAC Champion Bantams earn the right to defend their title with the wins, clinching a spot in the four-team league tourney.
Trinity senior OF Alex Almeida (Bridgeport, Conn.) doubled in the top of the seventh inning of the first game to score classmate Stephen Howard (Cheshire, Conn.) with the go-ahead run. Howard had led off the inning with a walk. Almeida scored Trinity's first run in the first, drawing a walk, stealing second base and scoring on senior OF Marc Crowley's (Andover, Mass.) single. Bates grabbed a 2-1 lead with two runs in the third, both scored on wild pitches by Trinity sophomore starter Sean Meekins (Rockville Centre, N.Y.). Samuel Warren hit a leadoff double and moved to third on Rockwell Jackson's grounder. Ryan Sonberg drew a two-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch as Warren scored. Sonberg reached third on Kevin Davis's single, then scored on Meekins' third wild pitch of the frame.
Trinity tied it up at 2-2 in the fourth, taking advantage of a leadoff walk to sophomore Robert Ferrara (Fairfield, Conn.), a passed ball and an RBI groundout by senior captain SS Stephen Rogers (Watertown, Mass.). Bates starter Brad Reynolds went 6.2 innings and allowed all three runs, all earned, limiting the Bantams to four hits but walking five while striking out four. Trinity junior RHP Patrick Carbone (North wales, Pa.) replaced Meekins during the fourth and went the rest of the way for the victory, holding Bates scoreless over 3.1 innings.
In the nightcap, Bates had three big innings of three or more runs, but Trinity countered with five runs in the fifth and five more in the seventh to prevail in a wild game that saw the teams trot out six pitchers apiece and lasted close to four hours. Almeida and Rogers each scored twice, each had three of Trinity's 16 hits in the game, and Almeida drove in four runs while Rogers drove in three to power the Bantams. Meekins earned the win despite allowing Bates three runs in the sixth, one of them an inherited runner. Senior RHP Ben Goldberg (Plainview, N.Y.) inherited a 12-10 lead after Trinity scored five in the top of the seventh, and he held Bates to one unearned run in three innings for the save.
Jackson led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to center. Griff Tewksbury's blooper dropped into center field, but Jackson, holding up in case the ball was caught, was thrown out at second alertly by Rogers. Sonberg's hard grounder up the middle was corralled by Rogers, but his flip to second was dropped, putting runners at first and second for Kevin Davis. Davis's sharp grounder to first was fielded cleanly, but senior 1B Joe Papa (Stoneham, Mass.), trying to start a double play, threw wide of second base, loading the bases for Mekae Hyde. Hyde then singled to right for his third hit and third RBI of the game, closing the gap to 12-11 and keeping the bases loaded with one out. But Goldberg finished off the sweep by inducing a popup and a groundout.
Bates came back from a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the fourth. Davis walked and Hyde doubled to lead off, and Warren doubled to right to score both runners. Nate Pajka pulled a single through the right side to chase Trinity rookie starter John Meuchner (Rockville Centre, N.Y.), and Warren came home on a wild pitch by freshman reliever Dylan Callahan (Greenwich, Conn.). Trinity's five-run fifth included five hits, highlighted by Almeida's RBI double and RBI singles by Rogers and Ferrara. Ferrara was caught in a rundown attempting to steal second for the third out, but not before Papa crossed home plate for a 7-3 Trinity lead. Bates tied the game at 7-7 with four runs on four hits in the fifth, including RBI singles by Hyde and Kevin McGregor. Bates added three more runs in the sixth to assume a 10-7 lead, but Trinity's five-run seventh also featured five hits. Almeida delivered a two-run single through the right side, and Rogers doubled into the gap in right-center to scorte Almeida.