TROY, N.Y. -- The Bates baseball team fell behind early and nearly completed a big comeback before falling 5-3 Saturday at RPI. 

The Engineers (1-1) scored four runs in the first inning and made the lead hold up, despite a furious rally from the Bobcats (2-2), in the first of three scheduled games this weekend between the two teams.

Down 4-0, Bates began to chip away with a run in the second inning. With one out, sophomore Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) singled to right field. Brennan stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With two away, junior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) singled him home to trim the deficit to 4-1.

The Bobcats added two more runs in the seventh inning. Junior Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) led off with an infield single. He stole second base and sophomore Noah Jankowski (Methuen, Mass.) drew a walk. A wild pitch moved both runners up 90 feet and a passed ball plated Attal, making the score 4-2. A wild pitch on ball four to junior Henry Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) scored Jankowski but Jamieson was thrown out trying to advance to second on the play. 

Down 4-3, Brennan led off the eighth inning with a double but got left stranded. Then the Engineers got an insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the frame.

Attal led off the ninth with a single to left and one out later Jamieson drew a walk. But a double play ended the game.

Senior Grant Iuliano (Waltham, Mass.) settled down after a rough first inning on the mound, going four frames for the Bobcats. Iuliano (1-1) struck out three batters while walking only one.

First-year Christopher McGrail (Dedham, Mass.) pitched well out of the bullpen for Bates, allowing just one run on one hit in four innings. He struck out five batters along the way.

Attal, Jankowski and Brennan led the way on offense. Attal finished 2-5 with a run scored, Jankowski went 1-3 with a run scored, a double, and two walks. Brennan finished 2-4 with a run scored and a double.

Aidan Safar (1-0) got the win for the Engineers with 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen after starter Ryan Yerby gave up one run on four hits over four innings. Thomas Neuman earned the save. Joe Curci paced the Engineers on offense, going 2-3 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk. Cole Paquin added a two-RBI double, which got RPI on the board in the first inning.

The Bobcats and the Engineers square off in a doubleheader Sunday at 12pm.