LEWISTON, Maine -- Bowdoin College combined the starting pitching of Henry Van Zant with 12 hits and 10 bases on balls to defeat the Bates College baseball team 15-4 in a NESCAC East Division game Tuesday at Leahey Field, to win two out of three in the rivals' three-game series.

The Polar Bears rose to 14-17 overall and finished their league slate with a 6-6 record. 

One NESCAC East series remains on the schedule, with Trinity (14-15, 4-5 NESCAC East) visiting Bates (12-16, 4-5) for one game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. With Tufts already assured first place in the final NESCAC East standings, either the Bantams or Bobcats can finish in second place and earn the final berth in the NESCAC Baseball Championship tournament; Bates would need a series sweep, while Trinity, which owns a tiebreaker against Bowdoin, needs to win two of three. Otherwise Bowdoin will claim second.

Bowdoin mounted a two-out, three-run rally to start the game. Bates starting righthander Rob DiFranco (Melrose, Mass.) walked Aaron Rosen and hit Chad Martin to start the rally, and Cole DiRoberto drove them both home with a single down the right-field line. DiFranco gave up a walk to Peter Cimini, and DiRoberto came home on a wild pitch.

The Bobcats got two back in the bottom of the first. Senior Rockwell Jackson (Fort Worth, Texas) hit a one-out single to center, and senior Sam Berry (Hamilton, Mass.) followed with a double against the left-field fence. Senior Nate Pajka (Douglas, Mass.) then wristed a single into shallow right to score both runners.

Bowdoin added three unearned runs in the second to take a 6-2 lead. Sean Mullaney led off with a walk, and both Chris Cameron and Erik Jacobsen reached on errors before scoring. Rosen hit an RBI single and Martin drew a bases-loaded walk in the inning.

Bates loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third, on hits by Jackson and Berry and sophomore Ryan McCarthy's (Plaistow, N.H.) leadoff hit-by-pitch. Senior Mekae Hyde (Lewiston, Maine) hit a potential double-play ball that was mishandled by Rosen at second base, allowing McCarthy and Jackson to score. Van Zant averted further damage, however, as the Polar Bears threw out both Berry and Hyde at home plate on ground balls, and sophomore John Dinucci (West Hartford, Conn.) struck out with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Bates senior righthander Sam Maliska (Palo Alto, Calif.) allowed Bowdoin to load the bases with two outs in the third, but he too escaped further damage when Nadeau's deep fly ball toward the left-field foul pole was tracked down by Dinucci.

Maliska got through the fourth inning unscathed but found trouble in the fifth. Cameron and Rosen walked and Chad Martin followed with a two-out, three-run home run to left center, giving Bowdoin a 9-4 lead.

The Polar Bears opened up a 12-4 advantage with three more runs in the sixth off of Bates junior righthander Mark Cunningham (Canton, Mass.), fueled by Cameron's RBI double down the right-field line, which was immediately followed by Jacobsen's two-run double down the left-field line.

DiRoberto and Sam Canales both had run-scoring singles in the ninth inning as the Polar Bears notched their fifth three-run inning of the game.

Van Zant rose to 7-1 on the season, going eight full innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits and one walk with 12 strikeouts.

DiRoberto was 3-for-6 with three RBIs, and Martin drove in four runs to lead Bowdoin's 12-hit attack. The major difference in the game was pitcher control: Bates had nine hits but earned only one base on balls, while the Polar Bears received 10 free passes from Bates' four pitchers.

Four seniors had two hits apiece for the Bobcats, in Jackson, Berry, Pajka and Parker.