CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Bates baseball team scored four runs in the first inning and never trailed in a 7-4 win over MIT Wednesday afternoon.
Bates (4-5) tallied eight hits on the day and took advantage of some poor defense from MIT, with the Engineers (3-3-1) committing five errors.
Junior Nolan Collins (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) struck out six batters over six innings, scattering eight hits and allowing four runs (two earned), earning his second win of the season. Collins (2-0) walked just one batter on the afternoon. First-year Jared Pantalony (Brooklyn, N.Y.) impressed out of the bullpen, tossing three shutout innings to pick up his first career save.
Tommy Hannan (1-2) got the start for the Engineers and took the loss, giving up six runs (three earned) on three hits in two innings pitched.
Sophomore Christian Beal (Flossmoor, Ill.) got the offense going in the top of the first, leading off with a single. One later later, junior captain Jack Arend (Newfields, N.H.) got hit by a pitch and senior Dan Trulli (Melrose, Mass.) walked to load the bases. First-year Bryan Gotti (Westwood, Mass.) smacked a two-RBI double to left field, putting Bates up 2-0. Junior Giovanni Torres (North Haven, Conn.) reached on a throwing error and Trulli scored on the play to extend the lead to 3-0. Junior Will Sylvia (Newton, Mass.) drove in Gotti with a ground out, capping off the scoring for the inning.
Collins issued a two-out walk in the first but Arend caught the runner trying to steal, ending the frame. Then in the top of the second, the Bobcats added to their lead with a pair of runs. Junior Jon Lindgren (Plainville, Conn.) reached on an error to start the inning. After Beal reached on a fielder's choice where the Engineers failed to record an out, first-year Andrew Chi (Closter, N.J.) singled to load the bases. Arend drove in Lindgren with a ground out and Beal scored when the Engineers committed their second error of the inning, this time on a Trulli ground ball.
Up 6-0, Bates held on down the stretch. The Engineers cut the Bobcat lead to 6-2 in the third thanks to four straight hits before Collins struck out a pair of end the frame.
MIT scored a pair of unearned runs in the sixth. After a Bobcat error extended the inning, MIT's Tony Rice singled in a pair of runs.
With the lead down 6-4, the Bobcats picked up an insurance run in the top of the eighth. Lindgren singled to start the frame and one out later he advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt. Chi put the ball in play and another MIT error allowed Lindgren to score, extending the lead to 7-4.
Jared Schwait doubled with two outs in the ninth but Pantalony got Ethan Rolland to ground out, ending the game.
Sylvia finished the game 2-4 with an RBI and Gotti drove in a pair of runs while Lindgren and Beal both crossed the plate twice in the win.
Arend went 1-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk. Arend is hitting an even .500 (12-24) on the season in eight games played with an OBP of .676.
Schwait went 2-5 with a run scored and Rolland finished 2-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a walk for MIT. Rice finished 2-4 at the plate with an RBI. Zeke Long kept MIT in the game with five shutout innings out of the bullpen, striking out eight batters.
The Bobcats are back in action Sunday when they host Plymouth State for a doubleheader on the campus of Colby College that gets underway at 12pm.