Baseball Swept at Bates Bobcats in Critical Part of Season

BRENT SCHOELLER ’21
STAFF WRITER

The baseball team had a difficult series with the Bobcats of Bates College this weekend.  They lost all three games of the series to go to 13-13 on the year and 7-5 in NESCAC play.  All the games were close, which is a difficult pill to swallow for the Bantams.  Before the weekend, the Bantams were enjoying a four-game winning streak and had won eleven of their last 14 games.

The first game was defined by two large innings by both teams. The final score of the game was 8-7 in favor of Bates. The Bobcats struck first in the second inning with one run, and the Bantams answered quickly with a run of their own in the bottom of the third inning.  Then, in response to the run from the Bantams, Bates scored five runs in the top of the fourth inning, which brought the score to 6-1 in favor of the Bobcats.  Then they added another two runs in the top of the sixth innings to increase their lead to seven runs.  However, the Bantams came close in the bottom of the sixth with six runs. Cooper Mooney ’18 led the inning off with a double then he was driven in by Brendan Pierce ’18, who hit a double of his own. Then, thanks to more hits like the triple from Johnny Stamatis ’19, the Bantams came within one.  However, after three scoreless innings to end the ball game from both teams, the Bobcats came away with the win.

Saturday was a double-header which resulted in two very close games. Unfortunately, the Bantams would drop both games. The first game was a great chance for Trinity to come away with the win as they scored the first two runs then, after a quick response from the Bobcats, added another. Up 3-1 through the first four innings put the Bantams in a great position to capitalize and win the ball game.  However, thanks to a four run seventh inning from Bates and no response from the Bantams, they squandered their opportunity to pick up a key conference win. 

The second game had the same result as the first.  After a three-run homerun to begin the game for the Bobcats in the first inning, Bates would take a 3-0 lead.  However, Trinity responded with one run in the third inning on a walk by John Stamatis ’19 and an RBI-triple from Cooper Mooney. In the fourth inning Brendan Pierce scored on a sacrifice-fly, and in the sixth inning the Bantams pulled even courtesy of pinch-runner Geoff Stillman’s ’19 score on a wild pitch.  Unfortunately, after a run from the Bobcats in the top of the seventh inning, they would take the 4-3 lead with only three inningsleft.  The result was the same as the first game, with the Bantams unable to score runs down the stretch, and as a result the Bantams added three more losses to their record.  The Bantams will be back in action on April 24  against Western New England University looking to get back on the better side of .500.