Hampden Sydney, Va. -- Nine unanswered runs for Hampden-Sydney College proved to be too much of a deficit for Bates College Friday afternoon as the host-Tigers tamed the Bobcats, 9-2, in non-conference baseball action.

The victory snaps a season-opening, three-game slide for Hampden-Sydney (1-3) while Bates sees its ledger evened at 1-1 to start the year.

A lead-off double down the third-base line from SS Jack Brennan, followed by a single through the right side by LF Jack Margiloff, provided the garnet and white an immediate 1-0 advantage to start the contest. 

Bates went ahead 2-0 in the top of the third when a single through the middle by 3B Chris Cimino, scored Brennan from second base after the Bobcat senior reached on a bunt single and advanced on Margiloff's subsequent knock through the left side.

That would be it for Bates offensively as Hampden-Sydney pitching would hold the Bobcats scoreless the rest of the way.

The Tigers commenced their comeback in the home half of the fourth as Hampden-Sydney plated four runs, highlighted by a two-run single by 3B Matthew Arnold (2-for-3, 3 RBI), to take a 4-2 lead. The score would hold until the seventh when the Tigers took advantage of some shaky Bobcat pitching (two walks, wild pitch) to score three more tallies on a lone hit.

Now sitting on a 7-2 cushion, Hampden-Sydney collected a pair of insurance runs in the eighth to seal the triumph.

Jase Howell (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory as the first-year recorded 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball (2 BB, K, HBP) for the Tigers. Sam Hough (0-1) suffered the loss in the start for the Bobcats (3.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K).

Brennan (2-for-4, BB) and Margiloff (2-for-5) paced the Bobcat lineup with respective multi-hit efforts.

Bates now prepares to take on St. Mary's College (Md.) Saturday at noon in a neutral site affair, hosted by Hampden-Sydney.