NASHUA, N.H. - The Bates baseball team survived a late eighth inning surge to edge out Tufts University, 8-7 Saturday morning in the elimination game on day two of the NESCAC Championships at Holman Stadium. Bates will take on the winner of the afternoon game between Amherst College and Wesleyan University, who both won on Friday.

Bates relief pitcher Sam Maliska (Palo Alto, Calif.) came in for Bates (17-19) with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning, and eventually struck out Tufts right fielder (26-10) Harry Brown looking with the tying run on third base to preserve what proved to be a fantastic start from Bates first year pitcher Connor Speed (San Diego, Calif.). Rob DiFranco (Melrose, Mass.) threw a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save of the year.

Speed was perfect through the first two innings and kept the Jumbos hitless through the first four frames. In the top of the fifth, Cody McCallum notched the first hit of the game for Tufts, a one-out double to right. James Howard followed with a single to right to drive in McCallum with the Jumbos' first run of the game.

Offensively, the Bobcats wasted no time in getting to Tufts starter Andrew David, who came in to Saturday's game with an unblemished 6-0 record. Samuel Warren (Norfolks, Va.) led off the home half of the first for Bates with an opposite field home run to give his team the early 1-0 lead.

In the second, Bates exploded for seven runs, sending 12 batters to the plate and knocking David from the game after only an inning and two thirds. Rockwell Jackson (Fort Worth, Tex.) and Connor Reenstierna (Lincoln, Mass.) started the frame with back-to-back doubles to make it 2-0. Catcher Mekae Hyde (Lewiston, Maine) walked and Alex Parker (Lewiston, Maine) laid down a perfectly placed bunt that got past David to load the bases for shortstop Brendan Fox (West Hartford, Conn.), who grounded out to second to give Bates a 3-0 lead.

McCarthy and Nate Pajka (Douglas, Mass.) followed with RBI singles to chase David from the game. Tufts reliever Willie Archibald immediately fell behind Bates designated hitter Sam Berry (South Hamilton, Mass.), who launched a 3-0 offer from Archibald over the left center field fence for a three run shot that broke the game wide open at 8-0.

Tufts got to the Bates bullpen in the eighth inning, sending 13 batters to the plate and taking advantage of some wildness from Bobcat pitchers, who issued five free passes in the inning. Tufts pinch hitter Dan Kelly provided the key hit of the frame, a one-out ground rule double just out of the reach of Bates right fielder Pajka that scored two runs and made it 8-5 Bates. McCallum followed with an RBI single to left, and a sacrifice fly from Howard brought Tufts within one. The Glazier drew a walk off of reliever Maliska, who surrendered an infield hit to Connor McDavitt before striking out Brown with the bases loaded to keep the Bobcat lead in tact.

DiFranco faced the minimum batters in the ninth, striking out the final two for the win. Offensively, Bates was led by Ryan McCarthy (Plaistow, N.H.), who was 3-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Pajka and Jackson also had two hit days, while Berry was 1-3 with three RBIs. McCallum was the lone Tufts player with a multi- game while Kelly and Howard each had a pair of RBIs.