AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- The Bates baseball team got the 2023 season started on the right foot with a doubleheader sweep of Houghton University on Saturday, with the Bobcats winning game one by a count of 6-1 and game two by a score of 8-3. 

Bates (2-0) takes on Chatham University (3-0) Sunday at 10am to conclude their early-season trip to the RussMatt Invitational. 

Game One: Bates 6, Houghton 1

Junior RHP Luke Linnehan tossed five innings of two-hit ball and did not allow an earned run in a 6-1 victory for the Bobcats in game one of Saturday's twin bill. 

Linnehan (Hingham, Mass.) struck out five Houghton batters and did not walk any one in his first career start for Bates. 

The Bobcats jumped on Houghton starter Hunter Kendall (0-2) in the bottom of the first. Junior Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) got the offense going with a single to center. He stole second base and junior Christopher Cimino (Scarborough, Maine) drew a walk. Brennan and Cimino pulled off a double steal and senior Henry Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then junior Noah Jankowski (Methuen, Mass.) got hit by a pitch as well, driving in Brennan for the first run of the season.

Junior Dylan Azcarate (Tiburon, Calif.) got hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the second and two outs later, Cimino drew another walk. Jamieson followed with a double down the right field line, scoring Azcarate and putting the Bobcats up 2-0 through two innings.

Kendall (0-2) shut the Bobcats down for the next two innings but Bates broke the game open in the fifth. 

With one out, senior captain Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) reached on an error. Sophomore Brennan Kelley (Huntersville, N.C.) drew a walk, but Attal got picked off, leaving Bates with a runner on first and two outs. Pinch hitter sophomore Ben Gesmondi (Portsmouth, R.I.) walked as well, chasing Kendall from the game.

Relief pitcher Ryan Newton was victimized by a passed ball, moving both runners into scoring position, and Azcarate greeted him with a two-RBI single, putting Bates up 4-0. Senior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) got hit by a pitch and Brennan singled home a pair to extend the lead to 6-0. 

Houghton pushed across an unearned run against Linnehan (1-0) in the sixth on an RBI groundout from Dylan Boprey. But junior RHP Sam Hough (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) entered the game and struck out the next batter to get Bates out of the inning without any further damage.

Hough worked a 1-2-3 seventh to seal the win. 

The Bobcats finished the contest with six runs on six hits. Brennan went 2-4 with a run scored, an RBI, and three stolen bases, while Jamieson went 2-3 with a double and an RBI. Azcarate went 1-2 with two runs scored and two RBI. Fallon finished 1-2 with a double and a run scored.

Kendall struck out 10 Bobcats in four and two thirds innings, but he also walked five batters and hit three more. Nate Tyler went 1-2 at the plate with a run scored while Boprey finished 1-3 with an RBI to pace Houghton. 

Game Two: Bates 8, Houghton 3

The Bobcats took the lead in the fifth and scored six times in the sixth inning to run away from Houghton in an 8-3 victory for Bates in game two of Saturday's doubleheader.

Bates used four pitchers in the victory, with sophomore Matthew Shrake (Chicago, Ill.) tossing two shutout innings out of the bullpen to pick up the win.

Down 1-0, the Bobcats tied things up in the top of the third. First-year Joe Yoxall (Dallas, Texas) drew a walk to start the frame and promptly stole second base. One out later he advanced to third on a Houghton error. Brennan drew a walk and ball four happened to be a wild pitch, scoring Yoxall and tying the game at one.

Ethan Cetton (0-1) pitched well for Houghton, but the Bobcats pushed across another run in the fifth. Fallon tripled to center to start the frame and Brennan drew another walk. Then a rather bizarre play happened where Cimino hit a shallow fly to left that was almost caught on the dive by Houghton's Jose Morales. Brennan was headed back to first thinking it was caught, and Cimino passed him on the bases. The Houghton second baseman tagged out Brennan and Cimino was out for passing him. But amidst all the chaos, Fallon scored and Bates led 2-1.

Sophomore Brandon Biggane (Rensselaer, N.Y.) led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run down the left field line, chasing Cetton from the game. 

New pitcher Trevor Ciccotti walked Gesmondi and senior captain John Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.) reached on a fielder's choice, where Gesmondi was safe at second. Attal tripled in both runners for a 4-1 lead. Kelley singled in Attal and advanced to second on a Houghton error. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and Fallon drew a walk. Fallon managed to escape getting picked off and advanced to second. Then Brennan drove in Kelley with a sacrifice fly to right field off new pitcher Will Tormey. A Cimino RBI double down the left field line capped off the big inning for Bates, as the Bobcats went up 8-1.

Shrake (1-0) struck out three batters in his two plus scoreless frames on the mound while junior Jack Potash (Weston, Conn.) also blanked Houghton in his two innings of work. First-year Max Dio (Wellfleet, Mass.) got the start for the Bobcats and allowed one run on one hit in two innings pitched, striking out four and walking three.

Senior Alex Ross (Ridgefield, Conn.) made his debut on the mound for Bates and allowed two runs in one inning pitched, finishing off the victory for the Bobcats by inducing a 1-6-3 double play to end the game.

For the second straight game, the Bobcats tallied six hits. Attal led the way, going 2-3 with a run scored, a triple, and two RBI. The Bobcats drew nine walks as a team in game two.