LEWISTON, Maine -- Junior Corbin McAlpine tossed six shutout innings and the Bates baseball team rolled to a 9-1 win over Thomas College Thursday afternoon in the Bobcats' home opener at Leahey Field. 

McAlpine (Boxborough, Mass.) struck out five batters and allowed just two hits in the victory for the Bobcats, the first win for McAlpine (1-0) in his collegiate career. 

Bates (9-7) tallied 17 hits on the afternoon, taking the lead in the bottom of the second and never looking back. Senior captain Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) got the offense started against Thomas reliever Zach Nickerson (1-3) with a single through the right side. He stole second and scored on a single through the right side from fellow senior captain John Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.), making the score 1-0 in favor of the hosts. 

The Bobcats added to their lead in a big way with four runs in the third inning. Senior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) led off with a walk and junior Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) singled to right field, sending Fallon to third. Brennan stole second and junior Christopher Cimino (Scarborough, Maine) ripped a single to left, scoring both runners. A ground out moved Cimino up 90 feet and senior Henry Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) singled him home. Jamieson stole second and Attal reached on an error. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch and Nowak recorded his second consecutive RBI single through the right side, plating Jamieson and making the score 5-0 in favor of Bates.

Bates added to the lead with a run in the fourth. Fallon reached on an infield single and stole second. Then Brennan recorded his third hit of the day with a single to left, driving in Fallon for a 6-0 lead.

Two more runs crossed the plate for the Bobcats in the fifth. With one out, junior Noah Jankowski (Methuen, Mass.) reached on an infield single. Sophomore Brennan Kelley (Huntersville, N.C.) followed with a single to center, advancing to second when pinch runner first-year Joe Yoxall (Dallas, Texas) scampered to third on the play, drawing a throw. Fallon got hit by a pitch and Brennan drew a walk for the seventh run of the afternoon for Bates. Cimino singled home a run to make the score 8-0, completing a 4-4 day at the plate for the left-handed hitting infielder. 

Sophomore Joe Bianchi (Scituate, Mass.) capped off the scoring with a monster solo home run to right field in the bottom of the eighth, the first long ball of his collegiate career. 

Kelley was a star on defense Thursday at second base for Bates, making a pair of spectacular plays. In the top of the first, he helped McAlpine get out of jam with a diving catch on a line drive off the bat of Thomas starting pitcher Tony Meza. He then flipped the ball to Brennan to complete a double play. In the top of the second, Kelley made another diving catch, this one on a pop up to shallow right field off the bat of Cam Haynes. Attal also flashed the leather, making an over-the-should catch in deep center field in the top of the fourth.

The Terriers (5-11) used nine pitchers in the contest while the Bobcats used three. Sophomore Christopher McGrail (Dedham, Mass.) allowed one run on three hits in two innings pitched out of the bullpen while junior Noah Timmer (Keene, N.H.) tossed a scoreless ninth inning. Bates pitches held Thomas batters to five hits.

Cimino drove in three runs to go along with his four hits at the plate. Brennan finished 3-3 with two RBI and a walk. Nowak went 2-4 with two RBI. First-year Jack Margiloff (Rye, N.Y.) recorded his first collegiate hit and stole two bases, giving Bates eight steals on the day and 80 on the season. The Bobcats are just eight steals away from the program record of 88 steals in a single season, set in 2010.

Bates is back in action Friday when the Bobcats visit Colby for a 4pm first pitch.