Middlebury 2, Bates 6
at Lewiston, Maine

PRESCOTT HOMER LIFTS MIDDLEBURY PAST BATES, 7-6

LEWISTON, Maine —Middlebury College junior 1B John Prescott (Sierra Madre, Cal.) hit a one-out solo home run in the top of the ninth inning to spoil the home finale for the Bates baseball team, 7-6, on Leahey Field.

The two teams traded blows in the middle innings, each scoring two runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth. Middlebury (12-14) broke on top with three runs on five hits in the sixth inning as junior CF Denny Smith (Weybridge, Vt.) hit a two-run single to give the Panthers a 6-3 lead. Bates (12-15-1) answered with two in the bottom of the inning, making the game 6-5 on senior C Ben Donaldson's (Lamoine, Maine) bases- loaded single. Classmate John Merriman (Clinton, Mass.) scored on a passed ball in the seventh to knot the game at 6-6 before Prescot delivered the winning blow off Bates sophomore reliever Chris Gwozdz (Cheshire, Mass.).

Bates got three hits on the day from Donaldson, who went 3-4 with an RBI. Classmate Jason Pinkham (Milbridge, Maine) had and RBI, while Merriman when 1-2 with two walks and two runs scored in their final home games.

Middlebury sophomore pitcher Ben Christensen (Kalispell, Mont.) picked up the win in relief, allowing just one run in 3.2 innings of work, striking out four and getting out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the sixth inning to improve to 2-0. Gwozdz suffered his first loss of the season despite allowing just three hits in 3.1 innings.

Middlebury (12-14)  000 213 001  -  7 15 2
Bates (12-15-1)     000 212 100  -  6 12 2


Batteries
BAT: Billy Karz, Chris Gwozdz (6) and Ben Donaldson.
MID: Eric McCollom, Ben Christiansen (6) and Richard Hightower.
WP: Chhristiansen (2-0). LP: Gwozdz (2-1).

2B: BAT, Rob Maguire, Nate Maxwell. MID, Jon Downs. 
HR: MID, Jon Prescott (1).
Multiple hitters: 
BAT, Donaldson 3, John O'Neill 2, Maguire 2, Maxwell 2.
MID, Prescott 3, Jake Armstrong 3, Gil Kim 2, Dan Collono 2.