Pine State News

The Bates baseball team lost a 7-6 heartbreaker in game one before bouncing back to defeat Coast Guard Academy 10-4 in game two of Sunday's doubleheader.

The Bobcats (8-4) are off to their best start since 2012 as they gear up for the NESCAC opener, set for Friday at 3pm when Bates visits Tufts.

Game One: Coast Guard Academy 7, Bates 6 (8 innings)

Jack Steel drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth as the host Bears took game one of Sunday's doubleheader by a score of 7-6 in extra innings over the Bobcats.

Bates held a 6-5 lead until the bottom of the seventh when the Bears rallied to tie the game. Steel led off the inning with a single and the hosts bunted him to second base. Richard Barkley drew a walk, putting runners at first and second with one away. Junior RHP Jack Potash (Weston, Conn.) got the next batter to hit a chopper to second base. The Bobcats got the runner at second for out number two, but the relay to first was not in time for the double play. Meanwhile, Steel hustled around from second base to score the tying run. 

Most of the offense in game one happened in the first three innings.

Bates got on the board first, scoring twice in the opening frame. Junior Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) led off the game with a walk. One out later, sophomore Brandon Biggane (Rensselaer, N.Y.) launched a two-run home run, his third long ball of the season. 

The Bears responded with three runs in the bottom of the first against Bates starter John Tully (Framingham, Mass.) to take the lead. John Carroll doubled with one away and scored on a Steel double to center. Then with two down, Richard Barkley hit a two-run home run for a 3-2 edge for the Coast Guard.

The Bobcats went up 6-3 in the top of the third when they plated four runs. Senior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) got the offense going with a single, advancing to second on a Bear error. Brennan singled him to third and the Bobcats loaded the bases when junior Christopher Cimino (Scarborough, Maine) drew a walk. 

A passed ball allowed Fallon to score, Biggane drew a walk, and another passed ball scored Brennan. 

Senior captain Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) drove in Cimino with a sacrifice fly to right, chasing Coast Guard starter Harrison Milbert from the game, and with two away, junior Noah Jankowski (Methuen, Mass.) doubled in Biggane for the fourth run of the inning.

The Bears responded with two runs in the bottom of the third, trimming the Bates edge to 6-5. With two outs and nobody on, the hosts drew three consecutive walks. Then Charles Red doubled in two runs, chasing Tully from the game.

Potash entered and got the final out of the third inning. Then he blanked the Bears in the fourth, fifth, and sixth frames. Coast Guard reliever Raymond Priddy did the same to Bates as the game turned into a pitchers duel.

Priddy (1-0) struck out six Bobcats in five and two thirds innings of shutout ball to earn the win. 

Potash suffered the hard-luck loss after allowing a lead-off single to Red in the eighth inning. He got the next batter out, but got taken out of the game after having thrown 61 pitches. Red eventually scored the winning run for the hosts on the bases loaded walk to Steel.

Carroll and Barkley tallied three hits apiece for the Coast Guard Academy in game one. Jankowski and Biggane both finished with a pair of hits for Bates.

Game Two: Bates 10, Coast Guard Academy 4

Senior Henry Jamieson went 4-4 with six RBI and the Bates baseball team rolled to a 10-4 win over the Coast Guard Academy in game two of Sunday's doubleheader.

With the game tied at one, the Bobcats scored three times in the top of the third. First-year Gibby Sullivan (Yarmouth, Maine) drew a walk to start the frame. Two outs later, Sullivan stole second and advanced to third on a Coast Guard error. He proceeded to score on a wild pitch, putting Bates up 2-1. Biggane and Attal both drew walks, chasing Coast Guard starter Jack Spinnato from the game.

The Bobcats pulled off a double steal and Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) greeted Red, who entered to pitch, with a single to left, scoring Biggane and Attal. 

A Carroll two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth cut the Bates lead to 4-3. 

But Bates scored two in the fifth and four in the sixth to take full command of the game. With one away in the fifth, Cimino drew a walk. Biggane and Attal followed with back-to-back singles, loading the bases.

One again, Jamieson greeted a new pitcher with a two-RBI single, this time doing it against Coast Guard reliever Brock Soletti to make the score 6-3. 

In the top of the sixth, sophomore Brennan Kelley (Huntersville, N.C.) drew a lead-off walk. Sullivan singled and Cimino walked to load the bases. Biggane singled home a pair of runs and Attal singled as well to reload the bases. Jamieson followed with a two-RBI double, giving him a career-high six runs batted in and making the score 10-3. 

A Parker Madden home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth made the score 10-4, but first-year Max Dio (Wellfleet, Mass.) entered the game and blanked the Bears (5-7) for the final two innings, striking out four along the way to earn the win.

Junior Teddie Nelson (Marshfield, Mass.) got the start for Bates and struck out three batters in two innings pitched, allowing one run. Sophomore Matthew Shrake (Chicago) relieved Nelson and tossed three innings, allowing three runs while striking out three before Dio finished the game off.

The Bobcats once again ran wild on the bases, recording 12 steals in the victory. Bates has 72 steals in 81 attempts on the season, the second-most stolen bases in one season in program history.

Biggane and Attal backed up Jamieson's four-hit game with two hits apiece. Biggane is now eight for his last 15 at the plate and is hitting a team-leading .405 on the season.

Original source can be found here