AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- Junior RHP Luke Linnehan tossed five innings of two-hit ball and did not allow an earned run in a 6-1 victory for the Bates baseball team in game one of Saturday's twin bill against Houghton University. 

Linnehan (Hingham, Mass.) struck out five Houghton batters and did not walk any one in his first career start for Bates. 

The Bobcats jumped on Houghton starter Hunter Kendall (0-2) in the bottom of the first. Junior Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) got the offense going with a single to center. He stole second base and junior Christopher Cimino (Scarborough, Maine) drew a walk. Brennan and Cimino pulled off a double steal and senior Henry Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then junior Noah Jankowski (Methuen, Mass.) got hit by a pitch as well, driving in Brennan for the first run of the season.

Junior Dylan Azcarate (Tiburon, Calif.) got hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the second and two outs later, Cimino drew another walk. Jamieson followed with a double down the right field line, scoring Azcarate and putting the Bobcats up 2-0 through two innings.

Kendall (0-2) shut the Bobcats down for the next two innings but Bates broke the game open in the fifth. 

With one out, senior captain Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) reached on an error. Sophomore Brennan Kelley (Huntersville, N.C.) drew a walk, but Attal got picked off, leaving Bates with a runner on first and two outs. Pinch hitter sophomore Ben Gesmondi (Portsmouth, R.I.) walked as well, chasing Kendall from the game.

Relief pitcher Ryan Newton was victimized by a passed ball, moving both runners into scoring position, and Azcarate greeted him with a two-RBI single, putting Bates up 4-0. Senior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) got hit by a pitch and Brennan singled home a pair to extend the lead to 6-0. 

Houghton pushed across an unearned run against Linnehan (1-0) in the sixth on an RBI groundout from Dylan Boprey. But junior RHP Sam Hough (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) entered the game and struck out the next batter to get Bates out of the inning without any further damage.

Hough worked a 1-2-3 seventh to seal the win. 

The Bobcats finished the contest with six runs on six hits. Brennan went 2-4 with a run scored, an RBI, and three stolen bases, while Jamieson went 2-3 with a double and an RBI. Azcarate went 1-2 with two runs scored and two RBI. Fallon finished 1-2 with a double and a run scored.

Kendall struck out 10 Bobcats in four and two thirds innings, but he also walked five batters and hit three more. Nate Tyler went 1-2 at the plate with a run scored while Boprey finished 1-3 with an RBI to pace Houghton.