St. Joseph's 14, Bates 4
at Leahey Field
Lewiston, Maine

ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE SPOILS BATES HOME OPENER, 14-4

LEWISTON, Maine -- The St. Joseph's College Monks (6-6) used a six-run sixth inning to break open a 2-2 tie and cruised to a 14-4 victory over the Bates College Bobcats (0-7) in Bates' home opener.

After St. Joe's scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the fourth inning, the bottom of the Bobcats' lineup answered in the bottom of the fifth, as sophomore first baseman Matt Pound (Santa Fe, N.M.) and first-year third baseman John Merriman (Clinton, Mass.) had back-to-back RBI singles.

The Monks opened things up in the sixth when the first seven batters reached base. After junior DH Ben Gosselin (Biddeford) led off with a double, the next six reached by either a single or a walk as St. Joe's opened up an 8-2 margin. Bates cut into the lead again in the bottom of the sixth, as senior second baseman Scott McAuliffe (Concord, N.H.) led off with a single. Junior centerfielder Jason Coulie (Manchester, N.H) brought him home with a triple. He scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly by senior DH Shirl Penney (Eastport), cutting the lead to 8-4

Fielding woes allowed the Monks to tack on three runs in the seventh on a pair of dropped balls in the outfield to go up 11-4. Bates had an opportunity to answer again the bottom of the seventh when the first two batters single, but Merriman's sharp liner resulted in a 3-6 triple play. SJC added three more in the eighth inning to close out the scoring.

Coulie led the way for the Bobcats, going 2-4 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored, while McAuliffe was 2-4 with a run scored. Junior Drew Blicharz (Rutland, Vt.) picked up the loss, hurling five strong innings before tiring in the sixth. For St. Joe's, Gosselin was 2-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored, while junior Aaron Vachon (Augusta) reached base four times in five plate appearances, going 2-2 with a walk, a hit by pitch, a sacrifice bunt, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. First-year pitcher James Becvar (Lewiston) worked the sixth inning and picked up the win.

St. Joseph's 14, Bates 4
                1 2 3   4 5 6   7 8 9       R   H   E
SJC (6-6)       0 0 0   2 0 6   3 3 0   -  14  11   1
Bates (0-7)     0 0 0   0 2 2   0 0 0   -   4   9   3

Batting
LOB - SJC, 15. B, 4.
2B - SJC, Ben Gosselin.
3B - B, Jason Coulie.
SH - SJC, Aaron Vachon
SF - B, Shirl Penney. SJC, Gosselin, Steve Osborne.
HBP - SJC, Vachon (by Blicharz), Dave Quintal (by Blicharz)

Pitching
BAT: Drew Blicharz, Kevin Walsh (6), James Hanley (6), Josh Moody (8),
Shane Delaney (8), Jason Coulie (9) and Ben Donaldson.

SJC: Chris Holt, James Becvar (4), Dustin Supa (6), Ben Gosselin (7),
Marcus Crowell (8), J.P. Pyne (9) and Nate Martell, Joe Holland (7).

W - Becvar (1-0)
L - Blicharz (0-2)

Fielding
E - B, Christian Galligher, Coulie, Austin Philbin. SJC, Quintal.
Triple play - SJC, (Mike Greve-Vachon)