WENHAM, Mass. – The Nichols College baseball team suffered another set of tough one-run losses, falling to Gordon College, 4-3 and 9-8 in a pair of Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) games on Saturday afternoon in Wenham, Mass.
 
The Bison fall to 7-20 overall and 1-5 in the CCC with the defeats, while Gordon improves to 13-10 and 6-2 in league games. Nichols returns to action on Wednesday afternoon when they host Mitchell College at 3:30 p.m.
 
Game One – Gordon 4, Nichols 3
Senior Cam Cook went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases, while senior Nick Roy and sophomore Kyle Bouchard each went 1-for-4 for the Bison in game one. Freshman Nathaniel Cormier, senior Chris Anderson, and sophomore Ryan Nesbit each went 1-for-3 with a run scored, while freshman Shay Souza registered the other hit for the Bison. Cormier also added a pair of stolen bases in the game.
 
Freshman Matthew Stewart went 5.0 innings in his first career start, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits with a strikeout. Sophomore Brodie Altiere pitched a perfect sixth for the Bison in relief.
 
Gordon junior Christian Hodge went 2-for-3 with a three-run homerun to lead the Fighting Scots offense. Senior Addison Tarr went 1-for-2 with two runs scored, while sophomore Joseph Mack was also 1-for-2 with one run scored. Sophomore Erik Gauer registered the final hit for Gordon.
 
Junior Derek Hudson went the distance for the Fighting Scots, giving up three runs (one earned) on eight this with a walk and three strikeouts in 7.0 innings of work.
 
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the third, the Bison knotted the score at 1-1 following an RBI single by Cook. Nichols took its first lead of the game in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of a Gordon error to score Chris Anderson and put the visitors on top, 2-1.
 
Hodge put the Fighting Scots back in front with one swing of the bat as he hit a three-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth to give Gordon a 4-2 advantage. The Bison answered with a run of it their own in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by Souza to trim the deficit to 4-3, but Nichols went in order in the top of the seventh to fall in game one.
 
Game Two – Gordon 9, Nichols 8
In the second game of the day, the Bison rallied from an 8-3 deficit to tie the game at 8-8 in the top of the seventh, but Gordon would plate the winning run in the bottom of the frame to walk off with the 9-8 win.
 
Bouchard went 2-for-5, including a homerun, to go with four RBI and a run scored to lead the Bison. Souza added three more hits, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored, while Roy and junior Joe Assenza each went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Nathaniel Cormier did not register a hit, but drove in a run and scored a pair for the Bison.
 
Senior StigErik McElhinny got the start for the Bison, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits with six strikeouts in three innings. Altiere struggled in the nightcap, allowing five runs on six hits in an inning of work, while senior Kevin Kirley suffered the setback, giving up one run on two hits with three walks and a strikeout in 2.2 innings of work.
 
Gordon had five players post multi-hit days led by a 2-for-5 showing with two RBI from Tarr. Hodges went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, while Gauer went 2-for-4 with a homerun.
 
Sophomore Garrett Poole earned the win for Gordon, tossing seven innings and allowing eight runs (four earned) on eight hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
 
Bouchard opened the scoring in the top of the first, driving in a pair of runs with an RBI single to put the Bison in front, 2-0. Nichols tacked on one more in their half of the second as Souza scored on a passed ball, but the Fighting Scots tied the game in the bottom of the frame as Gauer led off the inning with a homerun and Tarr drove in two with an RBI single to knot the game at 3-3.
 
The Fighting Scots would score five times in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run single by senior Travis Benoit, while three other players picked up RBI singles in the frame to take an 8-3 lead.
 
Nichols started to chip away in the top of the sixth as Souza was hit by a pitch and Cormier reached on an error to start the inning. After two outs, Bouchard stepped in and blasted his team-leading third homerun of the season to cut the deficit to 8-6.
 
In the next inning, Assenza led off the frame with a single followed by Nesbit taking advantage of an error and Souza laying down a bunt single to load the bases. Assenza would score on an error by the catcher to cut the Gordon lead to 8-7, and Cormier followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 8-8. Pinch runner Alexander Stroshine would work his way over to third before Cam Cook was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners with two outs, but Nichols could not find the go-ahead run.
 
Kirley got the first out of the seventh before walking junior Daniel Quint to put a runner on. Quint stole second, leading to an intentional walk of Hodge, and the Bison got the second out of the inning as Benoit bounced a ball to third for one out, but beat out the throw to first to put runners on the corners with two outs. Junior Alec Willey stepped in and delivered the game-winning RBI single to help the Fighting Scots walk off with the 9-8 win.
 
All-Time Series
Saturday marked the 49th meeting between the two teams, and Gordon improved to 28-20-1 in the series with the two wins.