BRUNSWICK, Maine -- The Bates men's golf team shot a 294 on Saturday at Brunswick Golf Club, a score that puts the Bobcats in first place at the NESCAC Championship with one round remaining. 

Coming off a season where they finished tied for fourth in the conference, the Bobcats made a statement on Saturday that they are a contender for the NESCAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

Through one round, the Bobcats are six over par, one stroke ahead of defending NESCAC champion Middlebury, as well as perennial power Hamilton. Five out of the 10 teams in the field are in realistic contention for the title, with Tufts two strokes back at plus eight, and Amherst three back at plus nine. 

Junior Freddie Curtis (Harvard, Mass.) and senior John Kawakami (Northport, N.Y.) are tied with three other players for the individual lead, as they both shot an even par 72 on Saturday. Curtis birdied the par-three second hole, but fell one over par when he double-bogeyed the par-four fifth. He was two over par through 11 holes, but Curtis birdied the 12th and 16th holes down the stretch to finish at even par. 

Meanwhile, Kawakami had a wild round, opening with a bogey followed by a birdie. Then he birdied the sixth and seventh holes, only to bogey the eighth. Through the front nine, Kawakami was one under par. He got to two under par with a birdie-bogey-birdie sequence on holes 12 through 14. Then he bogeyed two of the last four holes to also finish at even par. 

Sophomore Henry Ehrlich (Portland, Ore.) made Kawakami's round look boring, finishing at one over par with six birdies and seven bogeys. He birdied two of the final three holes to sit in a tie for sixth place, one stroke back of the lead.

Seniors Evan Glicos (Windham, Maine) and Paul Detre (Morristown, N.J.) both shot a five-over-par 77. With only the top four scores from each team counting, only one of their rounds counted toward the team score of 294. Glicos birdied four holes but was hurt by a triple bogey on 17. Detre birdied the first hole and was one under through nine holes. But a tough back nine, including a double bogey on 15 hurt his score. However, both players showed they could be big factors on Sunday.

Detre will be the first Bobcat to tee off on Sunday, with his tee time set for 11:10 am.