Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College Bantams scored three runs in the final two innings, including the game-winner on a sacrifice fly by senior tri-captain James Ramsey (Belmont, Mass.), to turn a 5-3 deficit after seven innings into a 6-5 victory over the visiting Williams College Ephs in the opening round of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Baseball Championship Tournament this afternoon. Trinity, the top seed in the NESCAC East Division, will play division foe Bowdoin, which came back from a 2-1 deficit to upend NESCAC East top seed Amherst, 3-2, in 11 innings in its opening game today at Wesleyan, in the winner's bracket game tomorrow at Trinity at 10:30 a.m. The Ephs will play an elimination game tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. at Wesleyan against Amherst with the winner of that game traveling up to Trinity to face the loser of the Trinity/Bowdoin game in a second elimination game tomorrow afternoon. Trinity, ranked No. 18 in the nation, improves to 30-9 with its sixth consecutive victory, while the Ephs fall to 16-20 with their third loss in a row.

Williams took a 5-3 lead with two runs in top of the sixth inning on a leadoff walk by senior Cameron Susk (Woodside, Calif.), back-to-back bunt singles by senior co-captain OF Stephen Maier (Orange, Conn.) and sophomore Matt Kastner (Mendham, N.J.) and a two-run single up the middle by senior Ben Oliva (Pacific Palisades, Calif.). Trinity junior RHP Ben Goldberg (Plainville, N.Y.), who earned the win with five innings of relief, struck out next batter and recorded the third out on a soft liner to 1B to end the rally, but the Bantams came up empty in their next two at-bats. Junior OF Joe Papa (Stoneham, Mass.) opened the bottom of the eighth frame with his third hit of the day, and classmate Steve Rogers (Watertown, Mass.) followed with a hit to chase Eph lefty senior starter Harry Marino (Westfield, N.J.) in favor of classmate Matt Berdoff (Greenwich, Conn.). Berdoff walked his first two batters, including a bases-loaded free pass to Trinity rookie Brian Wolfe (La Habra, Calif.) that cut the Williams lead to 5-4. Berdoff settled down and retired the next two hitters, and the Ephs loaded the bases in the top of the ninth before Goldberg fanned Susk and ended the rally on a fly ball by Maier. Trinity freshman 3B Adam Moossmann (East Northport, N.Y.) led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a single, and scored on a one-out double to the base of the fence in left-center field by Rueger to tie the game at 5-5. After a pair of intentional walks, Ramsey delivered a pinch-hit line drive in the left-center gap that was tracked down by Williams freshman Luke Pierce (Yarmouth, Maine) but was deep enough to score Rueger easily and give Trinity the triumph.

Trinity had opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single by Rogers, and Williams answered with a leadoff double by Kastner and a sacrifice fly by Oliva to tie it after two frames. Papa doubled and scored to highlight a two-run third inning for Trinity, but the Ephs got both runs right back on singles by Maier and Kastner, a wild pitch, a ground out, and an RBI double by Oliva before a double play grounder stopped the bleeding. Goldberg allowed six hits and two runs with two walks and four strikeouts in relief of rookie starter Sean Meekins (Rockville, Centre, N.Y.), while Marino yielded six hits and four runs with five walks and four K's over seven innings but earned a no-decision for the Ephs. Rogers joined Papa as a multiple hitter for Trinity, finishing 2-for-4 with two RBI and two steals, while Kastner was 4-for-4 with two runs and a double, Oliva was 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI, and Maier finished 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored for the Ephs.