LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates baseball team scored seven runs in the third inning and used six pitchers to shut out Plymouth State 7-0 Thursday afternoon in the Bobcats' first game this season at Leahey Field.
Bates (5-9) got tremendous pitching from junior Brendan Smith (Hingham, Mass.), sophomore Cameron Carlson (Tampa, Fla.), sophomore Will Slayne (Dedham, Mass.), sophomore Mark Russell (Westford, Mass.), first-year Peter Schuldt (Winnetka, Ill.) and sophomore Ryan Moralejo (Miami, Fla.) in the victory. The six hurlers held the Panthers (9-6) to just three hits, the fewest Bates has allowed in a nine-inning game since holding Trinity to two hits in a 4-1 victory last season.
Smith got the start and tossed three innings of scoreless ball. He has now pitched 10 innings against the Panthers in his career without giving up a run. On Thursday he allowed one hit, walked three and struck out two. The Panthers loaded the bases with two outs in the first inning but Smith struck out Mitch Sytulek to escape unharmed.
Meanwhile the Bates bats came alive in the third against Panther starter Tyler Shemick (1-3).
Sophomore Will Sylvia (Newton, Mass.) got the inning started with a double to right center. Sophomore Pat Beaton (West Newbury, Mass.) drew a walk and senior Connor DiVincenzo (Westwood, Mass.) got hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.
A wild pitch scored Sylvia and sophomore Zach Avila (San Francisco, Calif.) drew a walk to load the bases again. Junior Dan Trulli (Melrose, Mass.) drove in a run with a walk of his own, extending the Bates lead to 2-0.
Trulli's walk chased Shemick from the game and the Panthers brought in reliever Marc Phinney. Phinney struck out the first batter he faced and got the next hitter to hit into a 1-2 fielder's choice. But sophomore Jack Arend (Newfields, N.H.) looped a double into shallow left to plate two runs, making the score 4-0 in favor of the Bobcats. Sophomore Giovanni Torres (North Haven, Conn.) followed with a solid line drive single, scoring Arend and junior Asher MacDonald (Hillsborough, N.C.).
The Bobcats weren't done. Sylvia picked up his second hit of the inning with a single and Beaton singled home Torres to make the score 7-0 in favor of Bates.
The seven runs in the third inning marks the most Bates has scored in an inning since they plated seven in the second against Tufts in the 2015 NESCAC tournament, an 8-7 Bobcat victory.
Phinney ended up pitching quite well for the Panthers, shutting the Bobcats down over the course of four innings, striking out six along the way. He got charged with two of the seven Bates runs in the third but allowed just two hits and no runs over his next three innings of work.
Carlson tossed a scoreless fourth for Bates, getting a double play after a lead off walk and benefiting from Arend throwing out Luke Mancini attempting to steal after Mancini had singled.
Slayne (1-0) earned his first collegiate win with two innings of shutout ball. He worked around a two-out single in the fifth and turned in a 1-2-3 sixth inning.
Russell threw a perfect seventh, Schuldt worked around a Bates error in the eighth and Moralejo walked the bases loaded but escaped the jam to secure the shutout in the ninth.
Avila, sophomore Kyle Carter (Plantation, Fla.) and Sylvia all tallied two hits apiece to pace the Bobcats. Carter and Sylvia both had a double, as did Arend who drove in two runs on the day. Torres also drove in a pair while Beaton reached base three times thanks to a single and two walks. Ryan Richard led the Panthers by going 2-3 with a hit-by-pitch and two stolen bases on the afternoon.
The Bobcats return to NESCAC action this Saturday when they visit Colby for a doubleheader with the Mules that gets underway at noon.