LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates baseball team earned their first NESCAC win of the year with a 7-4 victory in game one of Saturday's doubleheader with the visiting Colby College Mules, as the Bobcats ended up splitting the twin bill at Leahey Field. 

Bates (10-9, 1-5 NESCAC) returns to action Tuesday when the Bobcats host Husson at 3:30pm. 

Game One: Bates 7, Colby 4

Juniors Sam Hough and Jack Potash impressed on the mound and the Bobcats scored three times in the second inning to take the lead for good in a 7-4 victory over Colby College in game one of Saturday's doubleheader.

Hough (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) tossed five innings and allowed just five hits while striking out three to earn the win. Potash (Weston, Conn.) worked two scoreless innings for the save.

Bates pitching held Colby to six hits while the Bobcats pounded out 10 hits in the contest.

Down 1-0, the Bobcats evened the score in the bottom of the first. With one out, junior Christopher Cimino (Scarborough, Maine) singled to left-center. Senior captain Tyler Attal (Los Angeles) reached on a fielder's choice and promptly stole second base. Sophomore Brandon Biggane (Rensselaer, N.Y. ) followed with a single to center, driving home Attal. 

Hough (1-1) worked a 1-2-3 second inning and the Bobcats tallied three runs against Colby starter Thomas Rioux (2-2) in the bottom of the second. With two outs, senior Drew Fallon (Mansfield, Mass.) smacked a double to right-center. Junior Jack Brennan (West Hartford, Conn.) singled him home and Cimino doubled in Brennan. Attal doubled home Cimino and Bates led 4-1. 

The Mules chipped away, getting one in the third and one in the fourth to cut the Bobcat lead to 4-3. But Bates answered with three in the fourth. 

With one away, Fallon drew a walk. Brennan, Cimino, Attal, and Biggane tallied four consecutive singles and senior Henry Jamieson (St. Simons Island, Ga.) drew a bases loaded walk, making the score 7-3 in favor of the Bobcats.

Potash relieved Hough to start the sixth with the Bobcats up 7-4. He ran into trouble, as Colby put runners at second and third with nobody out. But the junior worked out of the jam thanks to a ground out to first, a strikeout, and a ground out to third, where Jamieson made a fine play on the ball, charging hard and firing to first. Cimino's stretch at first proved to be the difference as the batter was out by half a step. 

The seventh inning was a lot less dramatic, as Potash worked around a one-out walk to earn the save.

Cimino went 3-4 with two runs scored, a double, and two RBI to pace the Bates offense in game one. The top four hitters in the lineup went a combined 9-16 at the plate in the contest.
 
Game Two: Colby 22, Bates 4

The Mules led from the jump in game two, scoring twice in the first and six times in the second inning on their way to a 22-4 win over the Bobcats.

Joe Sylvester (2-1) worked five shutout innings to earn the win for the Mules. Ethan Hillenberg had a big day at the plate for Colby (14-6, 3-3 NESCAC), hitting a grand slam and driving in seven runs while going 3-4 at the plate. 

Brennan, Cimino, and Attal paced the Bates offense with two hits apiece. 

Down 9-0, the Bobcats got two back in the bottom of the sixth. With two away, Cimino singled through the right side. Then Attal doubled him home and Biggane singled in Attal.

But the Mules erased any hope of a Bates comeback in the seventh thanks to Hillenberg's grand slam, which put them up 13-2. They added six more in the eighth and three in the ninth to round out the scoring outburst. 

An Attal RBI single in the eighth and a Brennan RBI double in the ninth completed the scoring for Bates on the day.