LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates baseball team broke a scoreless tie with five runs in the fifth inning and never looked back on its way to a 16-3 win over Thomas College Monday afternoon at Leahey Field.
The Bobcats (13-12) added three runs in the sixth and eight runs in the eighth inning on their way to a season-high in runs scored. The Terriers (8-17) briefly cut the Bates lead to 5-3 with three runs in the top of the sixth but the Bobcats blanked them the rest of the way.
Senior Justin Foley (Lynnfield, Mass.) went five plus innings to pick up the win for Bates. Foley (4-2) retired 13 batters in a row at one point before the Terriers finally got on the board in the sixth. He ended up allowing three runs on five hits, walking one and striking out five on the afternoon.
Thomas starter Ryan Jurgiewich (0-3) blanked the Bobcats for the first four innings, before running into trouble in the bottom of the fifth. Junior Will Sylvia (Newton, Mass.) drew a walk to start the frame and junior Giovanni Torres (North Haven, Conn.) got hit by a pitch. Junior Kyle Carter (Plantation, Fla.) bunted the runners over and sophomore Colin Coyne (Falmouth, Maine) drove in Sylvia with a sharp ground out to third. Senior Justin White (Whitesboro, N.Y.) singled through the left side to drive in Torres, chasing Jurgiewich from the game.
Junior captain Jack Arend (Newfields, N.H.) greeted new pitcher Corey Rogers with a swinging bunt down the first base line, which he beat out for an infield single. Sophomore Christian Beal (Flossmoor, Ill.) followed with an RBI single to left and first-year Bryan Gotti (Westwood, Mass.) ripped a single to right, which got misplayed by the Thomas right fielder, allowing Beal to score behind Arend, extending the Bates lead to 5-0.
The Terriers started the six inning with four straight singles. With runners at first and second, Alexander Miller singled through the left side. A run scored after the Bobcat left fielder bobbled the ball. Pinch hitter Shane MacNeill followed with a single of his own, loading the bases.
At that point, the Bobcats brought in junior Miles Michaud (Madison, Conn.) and Roberto Duran greeted him with a ground out to second, plating another run for Thomas. A Ryan Kappelmann RBI single made the score 5-3 in favor of Bates before Michaud got a strikeout and a fielder's choice to end the inning.
Bates answered right away in the bottom of the sixth. Once again, Sylvia keyed the offense, drawing a walk to start the frame against new pitcher Matt Hurley. After a fielder's choice put Torres on first place, he advanced to second on a throwing error when Hurley tried to pick him off. Then Torres stole third and Carter got hit by a pitch, putting runners at the corners.
The Terriers brought in Chandler Moran and Coyne promptly singled to to left, driving in Torres. A balk moved both runners up 90 feet and White walked to load the bases. Then Arend ripped a pitch up the middle. The Terrier second baseman made a great diving stop, flipping the ball to second base for the force out. But the relay throw to first was wild and two runs scored on the play, extending the Bates lead to 8-3.
Michaud threw two shutout innings and sophomore Henri Pratt (Pebble Beach, Calif.) tossed a scoreless top of the eighth.
Then the Bates offense exploded for eight runs in the bottom half of the frame to put the game completely out of reach.
Torres walked and Carter singled to center to get the offense going. Then pinch hitter first-year Andrew Chi (Closter, N.J.) walked, loading the bases. Junior Jon Lindgren (Plainville, Conn.) smacked a sacrifice fly and Arend singled in a run to make it 10-3.
Beal got hit by a pitch to load the bases and sophomore Noah Loughlin (Mililani, Hawaii) lined a single to center, scoring Chi. The runs kept scoring when first-year Antonio Jareno (Marietta, Ga.) reached on a fielder's choice. Two runs scored because the throw from shortstop to second base went into right field. With two outs, Torres doubled in two runs and senior Dan Trulli (Melrose, Mass.) singled in Torres, making the score 16-3.
Senior captain Alex Simon (Windsor, Conn.) threw a scoreless ninth to wrap up the game.
Bates tallied 14 hits on the afternoon and the Terriers recorded eight hits. Thomas made five errors in the field to Bates' one.
Arend led the way on offense, going 3-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. White finished 2-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Torres doubled, scored four runs, drove in two runs, stole a base and drew a walk. Carter finished 2-2 with two runs scored plus a stolen base, and Coyne went 1-3 with a run scored and two RBIs.
Miller paced the Terriers, going 3-4 at the plate with a run scored.
The Bobcats are back in action Wednesday when they host the University of Southern Maine at 3:30pm.