WALTHAM, Mass. – Bates College baseball rallied for three runs in the eighth, and senior Dean Bonneau faced six batters over the last two innings as Bates took a 4-2 win over Amherst College in an elimination game at the NESCAC Championship on Saturday.

The Bobcats (20-20) advance to play at tournament host's Tufts' Huskins Field in Medford, Mass., later on Sunday in another elimination contest. The Lord Jeffs (28-9), the designated home team, were eliminated from the tournament with the loss at Bentley University's DeFelice Field.

Bonneau (Amherst, Mass.) pitched 3.1 innings in relief allowing just one hit with three strikeouts in the win (4-2). Senior Chris Fusco (Annapolis, Md.) tossed 5.1 innings in the start allowing two runs on nine hits.

Amherst senior starter Dylan Driscoll (Mount Airy, Md.) threw 7.0 innings with six strikeouts giving up four runs on six hits in his first loss (8-1).

Bates reversed the game's momentum with three runs in the top of the eighth to take their 4-2 lead. Junior Rockwell Jackson (Fort Worth, Texas) started the inning with a single up the middle that glanced off the pitcher's glove. First-year Ryan McCarthy (Plaistow, N.H.) then laid a bunt down on the left side. 

The third baseman fielded the bunt cleanly, but his throw was off the mark at first allowing Jackson to score. Amherst's right fielder then attempted to throw out McCarthy at third, but his errant toss gave McCarthy the chance to come home and give Bates its first lead at 3-2.

Senior Griff Tewksbury (Concord, N.H.) followed with a double over the left fielder's head, and classmate Kevin Davis (North Andover, Mass.) sent a double to left center to score Tewksbury and give the Bobcats their 4-2 edge.

Sophomore Dave Cunningham (Arlington, Mass.) gave the Lord Jeffs a 2-1 edge in the bottom of the sixth, hitting a solo home run into the right field bullpen, about 50 feet from the pole, with one out.

The Bobcats tied the game at 1-1 as Davis hit an RBI single up the middle after the Lord Jeffs intentionally walked Tewksbury. First-year Brendan Fox (West Hartford, Conn.) led off the inning with a single into left field and eventually made his way to second on a fielder's choice. With two outs, Amherst chose to walk Tewksbury, and Davis then laced his single past the second baseman's glove.

The Lord Jeffs plated the game's first run in the bottom of the fifth as first-year Yanni Thanopoulos  (Highland, Calif.) notched an infield single which scored a run. Fusco retired two of the first three batters he faced in the frame before sophomore Mike Odenwaelder (Goshen, Conn.) beat out a ground ball to third base to put runners on first and third. Thanopoulos then placed a ball in the shortstop hole which allowed senior Alex Hero (New York, N.Y.) to score.