WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- The Williams College Ephs (8-14) and the Bates College Bobcats (9-11) split a doubleheader this afternoon at Bobby Coombs Field, with Williams taking the first game 3-2 and Bates winning the second 6-4 in 10 innings.
The first game was a pitchers' duel for the first four innings; Williams' Luke Rodino and Bates junior
Connor Colombo (Mendon, Mass.) combined for seven strikeouts, four hits and no walks; Colombo finished the game with eight strikeouts in six innings.Â
In the bottom of the fifth, however, Williams was able to get an edge on the Bobcat pitcher. Nate Michalski singled through the right side and then advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Jackson Parese singled to center, setting up Michalski to score on a passed ball. Colombo got out of the inning without further damage, but the Ephs took a 1-0 lead.
Rodino held his shutout through the sixth, but with two outs in the seventh and final inning, senior
Nate Pajka (Douglas, Mass.) and junior
Samuel Warren (Norfolk, Va.) both singled to put runners on first and second. Then sophomore
Brendan Fox (West Hartford, Conn.) singled to left-center, driving in the tying run. Two wild pitches later, Pajka came home to give Bates a 2-1 lead.
The Ephs came up to bat down one in the bottom of the 7th  against a new pitcher, junior
Rob DiFranco (Melrose, Mass.). DiFranco hit Michalski and then walked Parese before hitting Lev Schecter with another pitch to load the bases with one out, and was replaced by junior righthander
Mark Cunningham (Canton, Mass.). Luke Pierce came through with a hard-hit liner down the first base line for a walk-off, two-run double, handing Williams the tight 3-2 victory in the first game of the doubleheader.
Rodino (2-3) got the win in a complete game, while DiFranco was charged with the loss. Fox notched the Bobcats' only RBI of the game, while Pierce went 2-4 for Williams, including his walk-off double.
In the second game, Bates opened the scoring with a two-run double by senior
Sam Berry (Hamilton, Mass.) in the third inning; Jack Roberts responded for the Ephs with an RBI double of his own, cutting the lead to one.
Williams took the lead in the fifth when Schecter singled through the left side and Pierce brought him home with a triple down the right-field line. Pierce scored on the next play, a grounder to short by Phil McGovern.
Bates evened the score at 3-3 in the top of the seventh. Senior
Alex Parker (Lewiston, Maine), who got the start at shortstop and went 1-for-1, reached base three times and drove in a run, led off with a bunt single. Parker reached third on a groundout and an error, but was thrown out at home on senior
Mekae Hyde's (Lewiston, Maine) fielder's choice. Berry followed with a double to center, however, to score Hyde.