Hartford, Conn. – Senior 3B Daniel Pidgeon (Darien, Conn.) blasted a three-run, walk-off home run over the tall right field fence at Hyland Park to lead the Trinity College Bantams to a 5-4 victory over the visiting Colby College Mules in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division baseball opener for both teams this afternoon.  Trinity improves to 9-5 with its second win in a row, while the Mules fall to 9-4 with their third-straight loss.  The teams will complete the three-game series in Hartford, which moved down the street to the turf at Hyland Park due to Trinity's wet field, tomorrow with a 7/9 doubleheader tomorrow at noon.

Trailing, 5-4, after a three-run, inside-the-park home run by Colby junior Daniel Csaplar (Winchester, Mass.) with two outs in the eighth inning had given the Mules a 4-2 lead, Trinity got two runners on the bottom of the ninth frame on a one-out walk by senior tri-captain 1BBryan Wolfe (La Habra Heights, Calif.) and a single up the middle by freshman OF Brendan Pierce (Hingham, Mass.) to set up Pidgeon for his heroic first home run of the season.

Both teams had scored once in the first inning, as Colby junior Tom Forese (New Canaan, Conn.) had an RBI single and Wolfe scored Bantam first-year Matthew Toth (New Canaan, Conn.) on a groundout.  The Bantams loaded the bases with two outs in the first, but Colby senior tri-captain RHP Scott Goldberg (Valley Stream, N.Y.) got out of the inning and tossed three scoreless after that to match Bantam lefty starter Jed Robinson (Winchester, Mass.).  In the fifth frame, Bantam senior OF Evan Abraham (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) led off with a single and scored on a fielder's choice to account for the game's only run from the second to the seventh innings.

Two walks and a single by Pierce loaded the bases for Trinity in the seventh stanza, but the last of three Mule double plays forced out Toth at the plate and Pidgeon at first base ended the threat.  A Bantam error and a walk by Forese set Csaplar up for his first four-bagger of the year that gave the visitors their first lead since the top of the first, as his line drive to dead center that rolled all the way allowed him to circle all the bases and beat the Bantam relay.  Bantam sophomore Nicholas DiBenedetto (Fort Myers, Fla.) delivered a pinch-hit single and junior C Scott Cullinane (East Greenwich, R.I.) followed with a hit to left field, but Mule senior righty Greg Ladd (Danvers, Mass.) worked out of the jam.

Trinity LHP Sam Jordan (Sherborn, Mass.) struck out four in two innings of relief to earn his second victory, working around an HBP and a walk in the top of the ninth, while Robinson went the first seven innings and allowed one earned run and five hits with three walks and 10 K's.  Pierce was 3-for-5 for the Bantam offense, while Pidgeon, Abraham, and senior 2B Connor Sullivan (Fairfield, Conn.) all had two hits.  Goldberg gave up nine hits and walked three with two strikeouts in 6.1 innings, and Ladd took the loss with three runs and five hits allowed in two innings of work.  Sophomore Ryder Arsenault (New Hampton, N.H.) was 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base to pace the Mule offense.