WHITTIER, Calif. -- Brendan Fox went 3-4 with a double and a run scored but the Bates baseball team fell to Lewis & Clark by a score of 8-2 Friday morning.
Fox '17 (West Hartford, Conn.) has reached base safely in three straight games to start the season for the Bobcats (1-2) and is currently 4-8 at the plate on the year.
Lewis & Clark (6-4) never trailed in the contest as they got on the board right away in the top of the first against Bates starter Chris Krawczyk '19 (Chevy Chase, Md). Bradley Lezak led off the game with a single through the left side. Matt Donovan bunted his way aboard and Cooper Larson's sacrifice bunt moved both runners up 90 feet. Sean Shepherd singled home Lezak to put the Pioneers up 1-0. Krawczyk (0-1) got out of the inning thanks to a strike him out, throw him out double play. The first-year struck out Connor Eggleston and fellow first-year Christian Colon (Hamden, Conn.) threw out Shepherd trying to steal to end the frame.
The Bobcats went down in order in the bottom of the first and the Pioneers tacked on two more runs in the top of the second. With one out Tommy Massari singled up the middle. Akira Abderrahman drew a walk and Ben Beck doubled home Massari. Lezak's grounded out to second and Abderrahman scored on the play to extend the Pioneers' lead to 3-1.
Bates got to Lewis & Clark starter Nathan Klein in the top of the second. With one out, Fox doubled down the left field line. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and Colon drew a walk to put runners at the corners. Conor Reenstierna '16 (Lincoln, Mass.) singled home Fox to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Pioneers chased Krawczyk from the game in the top of the fourth. Massari got hit by a pitch to start the frame. Abderrahman and Beck drew walks to load the bases with nobody out. Matt Doyle '17 (Northborough, Mass.) entered the game out of the bullpen and promptly struck out Lezak. Donovan drove in Massari with a sacrifice fly and Larson drew a walk to re-load the bases. A Bates error allowed Shepherd to reach and two more runs scored on the play to put the Pioneers up 6-1.
Krawczyk went three plus innings for the Bobcats. He was charged with six runs (four earned) on five hits. The first-year walked four batters and struck out three.
First-year Justin Foley (Lynnfield, Mass.) entered the game in the fifth inning and held the Pioneers scoreless.
The Bobcats got a run back in the bottom of the fifth. Jamie Kennedy '19 (Boston, Mass.) singled to begin the inning. He stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. A Ryan McCarthy '17 (Plaistow, N.H.) RBI grounder plated Kennedy to cut the Lewis & Clark lead to 6-2.
Klein tossed six innings for the Pioneers, allowing two runs on eight hits to pick up the win. He walked two and struck out four.
Foley retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth but ran into trouble in the seventh. Shepherd started the frame with a single. Eggleston reached on a fielder's choice and Nick Lockwood tripled him home. Massari drove in Lockwood with a sacrifice fly for the final run of the contest as the Pioneers went up by a score of 8-2.
Samuel Warren '16 (Norfolk, Va.) tossed two shutout innings to finish the game for Bates.
Meanwhile Blake Howell retired the final nine Bates hitters out of the bullpen for the Pioneers.
The Bobcats will look to bounce back in a doubleheader on Saturday. They take on Whittier at 1:00 p.m. eastern time followed by another game with Lewis & Clark at 5:30 p.m. eastern time to wrap up their California trip.