By Dustin Jansen
Staff Writer

The baseball team started the week off with a great come-from-behind 10-6 win against the University of Maine Farmington on Tuesday, Mar. 30. Unfortunately, the high run production Bates has posted in their previous three home games, totaling 28, was left behind in Lewiston, when the team traveled down to visit conference rival Trinity, losing 13-0 in game one, and 9-0 in game two.

Against University of Maine Farmington, Bates fell 4-0 by the top of the third inning in a nine-inning game. Senior Drew McKenna had a big day at the plate, going 4-4 and starting things off in the bottom of the third with a single. He scored later in the same inning on a UMF error. Senior Nate Maxwell topped the inning with a two-run triple, cutting the lead to one.

The UMF Beavers responded quickly to the Bates offensive attack with a two-run inning in the top of the fourth, extending their lead 6-3. It would be all the action the UMF offense would see for the rest of the day, as a solid offensive and defensive effort sealed the deal for the Bobcats.

Bates rallied, again leaving UMF dumfounded as to what had happened to their three-run lead. Not wasting a moment, Bates answered right back in the bottom of the fourth as sophomore Adam Worral got things going with an infield single. McKenna sent Worral on to third with a timely hit and run play, and, after a walked batter, Worral scored on a hit batsman, making the score 6-4.

The rally didn’t finish there. With bases loaded, a costly UMF error allowed all three base runners to score, giving Bates a 7-6 lead.

Rookie pitcher Griffin Finan added a second win to his name (2-0), pitching five innings, giving up three earned runs off of six hits, and striking out four. In relief was senior Shawn Kingman, who allowed only three hits and no walks in four innings of work.

“Drew McKenna had a career day at the plate, going 4-4 and Shawn Kingman came in and shut the door in the last 4 innings,” said coach Craig Vandersea. “I was happy how we came back from being down 4-0. We played solid baseball the last four innings on the game.”

Heading into Connecticut on a three-game win streak, Bates was looking to make a statement in the NESCAC against 14th-ranked Trinity.

Instead, the Bobcat bats were tamed by the Bantams.

Averaging about nine runs in each of their last three games, the Bobcats were shut-out in both contests on Saturday. The Bates offense managed just seven combined hits in the two games with senior Matt Peterson tallying three of them The Bantams offense however was in full swing by scoring 13 runs in the first game and 9 in second.

Junior pitcher John Ribas did all he could to control the Bantam offense in the second game holding them to two runs over the first five innings before giving way to the bullpen.

The Bobcats arrived at the ballpark the following day looking to avenge the previous day’s games. They started out hot getting four runs in the third on a 2-run double from senior John O’Neill and a 2 run single by McKenna. Trinity answered back with a single run in the third and the fifth before Rob Maguire extended the Bates lead to 5-2 in the seventh with an RBI single. Trinity came back with three runs in the seventh to tie the game. No one else would score until Trinity’s game winning sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the ninth.

Seniors Maxwell, McKenna, and O’Neill led the Bates offense. Maxwell and McKenna each had three hits and O’Neill and McKenna both drove in a pair of runs.

The Bates record now stands at 5-6 and 0-3 in the NESCAC.




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