MEDFORD, Mass. -- The Bates baseball team struggled to score in game one and struggled to stop Tufts from scoring in game two of Sunday's doubleheader, losing by scores of 2-0 and 18-8 to the host Jumbos. 

The Bobcats (8-7, 0-3 NESCAC) look to bounce back this Wednesday when they host Thomas College at 3:30pm in their long-awaited home opener.

Game One: Tufts 2, Bates 0

The Jumbos scored twice in the first inning and that was enough to defeat the Bobcats 2-0 in game one of Sunday's twin bill. 

Junior Sam Hough (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) made his first collegiate start and pitched well, allowing just the two runs on three hits in six innings pitched, striking out three and walking one along the way. Hough (0-1) took the loss though as the Bobcats were only able to tally two hits against Tufts starter Connor Podeszwa (2-2), who went six shutout innings and struck out six batters to earn the win.

Hough's only walk issued in the contest came around to score to start the bottom of the first, as Ben Leonard drew a lead-off base-on-balls. Leonard stole second and scored on a Patrick Solomon RBI single to left. Solomon moved to second on a ground out and with two down, Jackson Duffy delivered an RBI single to left, making the score 2-0.

Senior Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) smacked a one-out single in the top of the second and senior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) singled with one away in the sixth. But Bates never advanced a runner to second base. 

Senior Henry Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) drew a lead-off walk against Podeszwa in the top of the seventh so the Jumbos went to their bullpen. Brendan McFall entered the game and got the final three outs for his fourth save of the season. 

Game Two: Tufts 18, Bates 8

The Jumbos broke a 4-4 tie with six runs in the bottom of the fifth, never looking back in an 18-8 defeat of the Bobcats in game two of Sunday's doubleheader.

Tufts (10-5, 3-0 NESCAC) tallied 13 hits and Bates pitching struggled to find the strike zone, walking 11 Jumbos along the way. The big blow in the bottom of the fifth was a Connor Flavin grand slam off Bates starter junior Jack Potash (Weston, Conn.), turning a 4-4 game into an 8-4 contest. The Jumbos then got runners to second and third with two outs against sophomore reliever Matthew Shrake (Chicago) before a Bates throwing error allowed two more runs to score, extending the Tufts lead to 10-4.

The hosts picked up one more run in the sixth, one in the seventh, and six in the eighth to break the game open. 

Bates' bats did come alive in game two, scoring eight runs on eight hits. Down 4-0, the Bobcats rallied with four runs in the top of the third. Sophomore Brennan Kelley (Huntersville, S.C.) got things started with a double down the right field line. Junior Christopher Cimino (Scarborough, Maine) drew a walk and with one down junior Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) reached on a Tufts error, loading the bases. Sophomore Brandon Biggane (Rensselaer, N.Y.) proceeded to clear the bases with a three-RBI double down the left field line, trimming the deficit to 4-3. With two down, Attal got hit by a pitch and senior captain John Nowak (Pelham, N.Y.) singled in Biggane, tying the game at four.

Potash (0-2) blanked the Jumbos the next two innings before they got to him again in the fifth. Meanwhile, the Bobcats couldn't take advantage of two walks against reliever Cameron Mayer (1-0) in the fourth and went down in order in the fifth. 

A Biggane solo home run in the seventh and a Kelley two-run shot in the eighth got the Bobcats to within five at 12-7 before Tufts' big bottom of the eighth inning put the game out of reach. A Jamieson RBI single in the top of the ninth rounded out the scoring for the Bobcats.

Mayer tossed five and two thirds innings and struck out six to earn the win for Tufts out of the bullpen.