LEWISTON, Maine -- Mother Nature finally permitted Bates College to make its 2024 debut on Lafayette Street Field Friday as the Bobcats played to a split in a crucial NESCAC twin-bill vs. Colby College.

Bates edged the Mules, 5-4, in the opener before dropping a 7-0 decision to Colby in the nightcap.

GAME ONE

The Bobcats rapped a season-high 14 hits, with five players enjoying multi-hit efforts, as Bates held on for the one-run win over Colby in Game One.

C Kennedy Jones (3-for-4) put the home team ahead, 1-0, in the first inning as the sophomore launched a solo shot (3rd of season) over the left-field fence.

Colby catcher, Chloe Wilcox (Sr-Windham, Maine), answered with her fourth long ball of the year in the top of the third, a two-run blast to right, to provide Colby a 2-1 lead.

Bates would even the score at 2-2 in the home half of the fourth as a Colby fielding blunder in left field on a single by 3B Emma Yen permitted P Delaney Rankin (single) to make it all the way around from first base.  

The aforementioned Rankin (3-for-3) and Yen (3-for-3) would strike again at the dish in the subsequent fifth frame. Rankin laced a two-out, two-run knock to left to put the Bobcats up for good at 4-2. Yen immediately followed by plating SS Emma Maher (single) with what would prove to be a crucial insurance tally.

Now trailing by three, the Mules slashed its deficit to a single run in the top of the sixth with a bases-loaded walk (Sullivan) and a ribbie single (Cassidy), but the Colby comeback would proceed no further.

A big reason for that was Bates CF Zariya Anderson, who saved the day with a sprawling catch near the wall in the right-center gap on a shot off the bat of 2B Courtney Schumacher. The first-year then promptly fired in to Maher at second base, doubling up Ayston Asadoorian to end the inning.

Rankin (6-7) went the distance to earn the victory in the circle for Bates (7.0 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 3 K). Colby's Ashley Correll (Fy.-Marlborough, Mass.) took the loss (4.2 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K). 
 
GAME TWO

After four scoreless frames to start the nightcap, Colby (15-15, 7-7 NESCAC) snapped the stalemate with a run in the fifth before unleashing a five-hit, six-run onslaught in the seventh to salvage the split.

Wilcox, who smashed a two-run homer in the opener, capped a big afternoon with a grand slam for the Mules in the breakout frame.

Abby Orso (Sr.-York Harbor, Maine) pocketed the complete-game shutout (6 H, BB, 4 K), improving to 9-4 on the year. First-year hurler, Isabella Albro (2-8), took the loss for the Bobcats.

Bates (8-17, 5-9 NESCAC) ends the afternoon clinging to the eighth-and-final postseason spot in the NESCAC standings.

The Bobcats host Wesleyan University Saturday at noon for another pair of key conference contests. The Cardinals sit right behind the garnet and white in ninth-place at 4-9 in NESCAC play (13-15 overall).