Hartford, Conn. – Sophomore OF Brendan Pierce (Hingham, Mass.) drove home the game-winning run on with an RBI single in the sixth inning and senior LHP Jed Robinson (Winchester, Mass.) allowed two earned runs and seven hits over seven innings to earn the win on the mound, as the Trinity College Bantams opened the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division schedule with a 4-3 victory over the visiting Bowdoin College Polar Bears in baseball action this afternoon.  Trinity snaps a three-game losing streak and improves to 6-9 overall, while the Polar Bears fall to 8-4 overall with their third loss in a row.  The teams will close out the three-game series in Hartford tomorrow with a noon doubleheader.

The game was tied, 2-2, after two innings and remained that way until the bottom of the sixth frame.  Consecutive hit batsmen put Trinity sophomore 2B Cooper Mooney (Southbury, Conn.) at second base with one out, and Pierce drove him home from there on a hard-hit single off the third baseman's glove that was one of just two hits for the Bantams in the game.  Bowdoin senior co-captain LHP Harry Ridge (Yarmouth, Maine) got out the inning thanks to a double play and allowed just one more hit the rest of the way.  Bowdoin threatened in the top of the ninth inning thanks to a pair of one-out walks, but Trinity senior reliever Dan Pidgeon (Darien, Conn.) entered the game for the final two outs to collect the first Bantam save of the season

Trinity had taken a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning without getting a hit, taking advantage of Polar Bear fielding errors in the infield on the first four batters of the frame.  After an RBI fielder's choice by Pidgeon plated the third Trinity run and put Bantams on first and third with one out, Ridge stopped the bleeding with the first of four double plays in the game by the two squads.  Bowdoin rallied for three runs in the top of the second inning thanks to an RBI single by sophomore Nick Sadler (Atkinson, N.H.), a bases-loaded walk, and a sacrifice fly.

Robinson improved to 2-1, walking three and striking out three, while senior co-captain Sam Jordan (Sherborn, Mass.) pitched four outs before yielding to Pidgeon in the ninth.  Ridge allowed just a single earned run and did not walk a batter with three 3 K's for Bowdoin.  Junior Nick DiBenedetto (Fort Myers, Fla.) had a single for Trinity, while Sadler and freshman Brandon Lopez (Amesbury, Mass.) had two hits each for the Polar Bears in a game that had no extra-base hits and lasted just 1:45.