The Bates baseball team scored eight runs in the first inning and held on for a 13-11 victory over Middlebury Friday at Leahey Field. Bates raises its record to 13-20. Middlebury drops to 13-15 and will finish with a doubleheader at Bowdoin College on Saturday starting at noon.
Bates sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring eight runs on seven hits and two Panther errors as Middlebury stuck with starting pitcher Justin Wright. The Panthers got four back in the second, as Bates' Custer Cook ran into control trouble. Cook issued four walks in the inning, allowing Middlebury to plate a run on a groundout by David Miranowski, two more on a bases-loaded double by Mark Shimrock and a fourth on a wild pitch.
Ben Shwartz came on in relief when Cook walked the leadoff batter in the third inning, and Middlebury tacked on two more runs to close it to 8-6, featuring an RBI single by Frazier Stowers. Shwartz earned the victory to raise his record this year to 1-3, allowing two runs (one earned) over three innings of work.
Bates added to its lead with a run in the fourth on senior Brian Buckley's RBI single. Middlebury came back by piecing together a run in the top of the fifth, using a single by Gabe Broughton, a Stowers single, a Miranowski sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly by Nick Lefeber. Bates opened the lead back to five, at 12-7, with three runs in the fifth, chasing Wright (1-1) after he allowed a two-run double to Alex Egelson. Scooter Scott came on to shut the door on the Bates rally, inducing Patton into an outfield fly.
Middlebury clawed back with two runs in the sixth off of Bates' third pitcher, Alex Gallant. Shimrock led off with a walk and came home on a double down the left-field line by Peter Bourdon. John Lanahan, who had singled, later came home on a wild pitch to close the gap to 12-9. Bates nudged its lead to 12-10 in the bottom of the sixth, as Tom Beaton singled, stole second and scored on a double by Rich Velotta.
Middlebury made it interesting once again in the eighth, as Lanahan led off with a walk, followed by a two-run home run to left field by Erich Enns, his eighth of the season. Bates Chuck Murphy-Romboletti came on to strike out Sowers and Miranowski to end the inning, then threw a shutout ninth inning, allowing only a walk to pinch hitter Nick Angstman, for a five-out save, his second of the season.
Shimrock led Middlebury's 11-hit attack, going 3-5 with a run and two RBIs, while Broughton went 2-3 with three runs. Beaton led the Bobcats with three hits and three runs, while four others added a pair of hits.
