TROY, N.Y. -- The Bates baseball team's bats came alive in game two and the Bobcats split a doubleheader at Rensselaer on Sunday, dropping game one 15-1 and flipping the script to win the second contest 14-5. 

Bates (4-2) is off to its best start to a season since 2015. The Bobcats are back in action this Saturday when they travel to Brandeis for a twin bill. 

Game One: RPI 15, Bates 1

The Engineers scored four runs in the first inning and never looked back on their way to a 15-1 win over the Bobcats in game one of Sunday's doubleheader. 

Thomas Neuman (2-0) tossed six shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out four to earn the win. Meanwhile, RPI tallied 21 hits as a team, including four hits apiece for Aidan Hicks, Joey Saia, and Ayush Krishnappa. A Saia RBI single got the hosts on the board in the first and they added two more on a Julian Scarpa two-RBI double. Scarpa eventually came out to tally his first of four runs scored in the contest. 

Bates tallied five hits in game one, with senior captain John Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.) going 2-4 with a stolen base to pace the Bobcats. Senior captain Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) added a double for the only extra base hit of the game for the visitors. 

The Bobcats got their only one of the game in the top of the eighth inning. Junior Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) led off with a walk. He stole second and moved to third on a ground out. Then sophomore Brandon Biggane (Rensselaer, N.Y.) drove in Brennan with a ground out to short. Attal followed with a double but was left stranded. 

Bates committed three errors on defense in game one but 13 of the 15 runs scored by the Engineers were earned.

Game Two: Bates 14, RPI 5

The Bobcats scored seven runs in the second inning and added five more in the third inning on their way to a 14-5 win over RPI in game two of Sunday's doubleheader.

With Bates trailing 1-0, Nowak got the offense going in the top of the second with a double to right center. Senior Henry Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) followed with a double of his own and Nowak advanced to third. One out later, first-year Gibby Sullivan (Yarmouth, Maine) grounded out to second, scoring Nowak and tying the game at one.

Senior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) doubled in Jamieson, giving the Bobcats a 2-1 lead. Then Bates caught a break when Brennan struck out swinging but reached base thanks to the ball getting away from the catcher on a wild pitch. Junior Christopher Cimino (Scarborough, Maine) walked to load the bases and another wild pitch made the score 3-1. 

Biggane delivered a clutch hit, doubling in Brennan and Cimino to increase the lead to 5-1. Attal reached on an infield single, chasing RPI starter Ben Koomey (1-1) from the game. Nowak greeted new pitcher Sam Stone with his second double of the inning, this one driving in two more runs for the Bobcats.

The Engineers answered with four runs in the bottom of the second, cutting the Bates lead to 7-5. 

A walk, a single, and another walk loaded the bases with one out. A Bates error allowed a run to score, and George Rainer singled in a pair to make the score 7-4. Bates starter junior Corbin McAlpine (Boxborough, Mass.) allowed five runs, but just two were earned in his 1.2 innings pitched. The Bobcats called upon first-year Max Dio (Wellfleet, Mass.) to relieve McAlpine and the rookie delivered again for Bates. A double steal set up an RBI groundout, but after that, the Engineers had no luck against Dio (1-0) who earned his first collegiate win with three and two thirds innings of shutout baseball. 

Meanwhile, the Bobcats ran away from RPI with five runs in the top of the third.

Sophomore Ben Gesmondi (Portsmouth, R.I.) got things started with an infield single. Sullivan followed with an infield single of his own and Fallon got hit by a pitch to load the bases. One out later, Cimino walked, driving in a run and extending the lead to 8-5. Then Biggane plated two runs with a ground-rule double and Attal got hit by a pitch to load the bases again. Nowak also got plunked and Bates 11-5. With two away, Gesmondi drew a bases loaded walk for the fifth run of the inning.

Bates added an insurance run in the top of the fifth. With one away, Attal drew a walk and stole second base. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Jamieson single to left center. 

Dio struggled a bit with his control in the bottom of the sixth, as a walk, a hit by pitch, and another walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Junior Teddie Nelson (Marshfield, Mass.) put out the fire, striking out back-to-back hitter and getting a ground out to end the frame with no runs crossing the plate.

The Bobcats capped off their scoring in the top of the seventh. Nowak walked to lead off the inning and Jamieson singled him to second. Nowak stole third and scored on a Sullivan ground out. 

Bates tallied 15 hits as a team in game two and held RPI to seven hits. Every Bates player in the lineup tallied a hit, with Jamieson going 4-5 to lead the way. Biggane finished 3-4 with two doubles and four RBI while Nowak also doubled twice and drove in three runs.

Matt Chotiner paced RPI (5-4-1) in game two, going 3-4 at the plate. 

The Bobcats tallied six doubles and four stolen bases as a team as part of their highest offensive output of the young season.