LEWISTON, Maine -- On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Leahey Field, the Bates baseball team sent the crowd home happy with a doubleheader sweep of Bowdoin. The Bobcats took game one 6-3 and prevailed in a dramatic game two by a score of 9-5.
With the victories, Bates (2-3) moves ahead of Bowdoin (2-4) in the NESCAC standings.
Game One: Bates 6, Bowdoin 3
Sophomore Connor Speed (San Diego, Calif.) tossed six shutout innings, junior Brendan Fox (West Hartford, Conn.) tallied four hits and senior Samuel Warren (Norfolk, Va.) drove in three runs to lead Bates to a 6-3 win over Bowdoin in game one of Saturday's twin bill.
Speed (3-2) struck out a career-high nine batters in the victory. He allowed only two hits and worked around four hit by pitches, four Bates errors and two walks to shut down the Bowdoin offense.
Bates took the lead in the first inning against Bowdoin starter Ben Osterholtz (3-1) and never looked back.
Junior captain Ryan McCarthy (Plaistow, N.H.) got hit by a pitch to start the frame. Fox followed with a double to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Warren drove in McCarthy with a sacrifice fly and Fox advanced to third on the play. Junior Brendon Canavan (Carlisle, Mass.) got hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners. Sophomore Asher MacDonald (Hillsborough, N.C.) singled home Fox to extend the Bates lead to 2-0.
The Bobcats tacked on two more runs in the second. With one out first-year Christian Colon (Hamden, Conn.) drew a walk. McCarthy followed with a single and Fox singled in Colon. Another Warren sacrifice fly made it 4-0 in favor of the Bobcats.
In the fourth inning Bates added another run. With one away Fox singled to right field and advanced to second when Bowdoin right fielder Peter Cimini bobbled the ball. Warren made the Polar Bears pay with an RBI single as Bates took a 5-0 lead.
The offense kept clicking in the sixth. McCarthy singled to lead off the inning. He stole second and scored on Fox's fourth hit of the game.
Up 6-0, Bates took Speed out after six innings of shutout baseball. First-year Justin Foley (Lynnfield, Mass.) gave up a three-run double to Bowdoin's Luke Cappellano but got the final three outs to secure the victory.
McCarthy went 2-3 with three runs scored and a stolen base. Fox went 4-4 with a double, two runs scored, two RBIs and two stolen bases. Warren went 1-2 with three RBIs. Bates struck out 11 Bowdoin hitters for the second straight game in the series.
Game two: Bates 9, Bowdoin 5
Bates scored five runs in the eighth inning to come from behind and beat the Polar Bears 9-5 in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.
Warren was the star of the game, going 2-5 with five RBIs, including a home run and the eventual game-winning hit, a bases clearing double.
Trailing 5-4 entering the bottom of the eighth, MacDonald reached on an error to start the pivotal inning. Sophomore Jake Shapiro (Sandy, Utah) lay down a sacrifice bunt and reached base safely when Bowdoin pitcher Michael Staes bobbled the ball.
With runners at first and second and nobody out, first-year catcher Joe Dinoto (West Friendship, Md.) reached on a perfect bunt that hugged the third base line.
McCarthy stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out. He got hit by the pitch to force in the tying run.
One out later Warren doubled in all three runners to give Bates an 8-5 lead. With two away, junior John Dinucci (West Hartford, Conn.) singled in Warren to extend the Bates edge to 9-5.
Bates had to come from behind three different times in the game.
Bowdoin took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning. Brandon Lopez doubled to start the top of the second. The Polar Bears bunted him to third and Cappellano singled him in for the first run of the game. Bowdoin pushed across another run in the inning on an RBI fielder's choice.
Down 2-0, the Bobcats rallied in the bottom of the third. With two away, Fox reached on an error. Then Warren made the Polar Bears regret the miscue with a two-run home run to left-center field. Warren's blast was his team-leading second round tripper of the season.
The game remain tied at two until the fifth inning. Nick Sadler singled to start the frame. After he stole second, Lopez drew a walk with one out.
Then with two away, Cappellano doubled in both runners to put the Polar Bears up 4-2.
But the Bobcats rallied yet again. Dinucci got the rally started in the bottom of the sixth with a lead-off single. Senior Berto Diaz (Carson, Calif.) reached on a fielder's choice and promptly moved to second on a wild pitch. With two away, Shapiro hit a grounder to the right side of the infield. Bowdoin first baseman Chad Martin got to the ball but threw wide to first and Shapiro was safe. Diaz scored on the play to cut the Bowdoin lead to 4-3.
Junior Eric Vilanova (Bridgeport, Conn.) delivered a pinch-hit single to advance Shapiro to third base. McCarthy came up big again for Bates with the game-tying single, driving in Shapiro to even the score at four.
Junior Anthony Telesca (Holtsville, N.Y.) got the start for Bates in game two and came away with a no-decision. He went six innings, giving up four runs on six hits, walking two and striking out six.
Senior captain Rob DiFranco (Melrose, Mass.) entered the game in the seventh inning and sent Bowdoin down in order.
But Cimini hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth to give the Polar Bears a 5-4 lead.
That's when the Bobcats struck in the bottom half of the frame to take the lead for good.
DiFranco (1-1) took care of business in the top of the ninth to pick up his first victory of the 2016 season.
Besides Warren's monster game, other Bobcats also hit the ball well in game two. Bates tallied 14 hits in the contest. Dinucci finished game two 4-5 with a double and an RBI. McCarthy went 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Diaz went 2-5 with a run scored and a stolen base. And Shapiro went 1-3 with a double and two runs scored.
The Bobcats are off for a bit due to Finals Week but Bates is back in action Tuesday, April 19 at Maine-Farmington. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m.