Box Score
BRUNSWICK, Maine -- The Bowdoin College baseball team drew one step closer to earning the top seed in the NESCAC East Division with a 15-2 defeat of Bates College on Friday afternoon at Pickard Field.
Sophomore Brian Buckley (Andover, Mass.) led Bates with three hits on the afternoon. Senior Adam Worrall (Duxbury, Mass.) and sophomore Erik Hood (Berlin, N.H.) recorded two hits apiece.
First-year pitcher Ben Shwartz (Mattapoisett, Mass.) was tagged for the loss, going six innings and allowing four earned runs (nine overall). Saturday's doubleheader between the teams in Lewiston begins at noon.
Bowdoin centerfielder Jared Lemieux became the school's all-time hits leader in the victory, while starting pitcher Trevor Powers collected his 19th career win to tie the school's career mark.
Bowdoin improves to 23-5-1 on the year, closing to within one win of the school's single-season record and have not lost in their last 14 games (13-0-1). With one win in tomorrow's twinbill at Bates, Bowdoin (8-2 NESCAC) can clinch the East Division crown and earn hosting rights for the NESCAC Baseball Championship on May 12-14. With the loss, Bates falls to 10-14 overall (3-7 NESCAC).
Bowdoin got on the board in the first inning, thanks to some poor fielding by the Bobcats. With runners on second and third after a throwing error by Bates catcher Alex Egelson (Fairfield, Conn.), Lemieux hit a groundball to second baseman Donovan Driscoll (Braintree, Mass.), who made a bad throw to first, scoring Chris McCann and John Lawrie to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. After Lemieux stole second, Ricky Leclerc laced an RBI double. Later in the inning, Jon Rosenthal ripped a two-run double to give Bowdoin a 5-0 lead after one frame.
That would be all the support Powers would need, as the senior right-hander got down to throwing strikes, scattering 10 hits and whiffing seven in the complete-game win. He improved to 5-2 on the year.
Lemieux, who tied the career hits record on Monday against St. Joseph's, broke the record held by Kevin Bougie '03 in dramatic fashion. After being intentionally walked in his prior at-bat, the senior came to the plate in the seventh inning with the bases loaded. Lemieux drove a Ralph Vitti (Winchester, Mass.) offering over the wall in right field for a grand slam and his 174th career hit.
