LEWISTON, Maine -- Sophomore Keagan Ryan smacked his first home run of the season but Bobcat hitters struggled to generate offense against four Saint Joseph's of Maine pitchers in a 7-1 loss for the Bates baseball team to the Monks Tuesday afternoon at Leahey Field. 

Saint Joseph's (7-3) tallied a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed in the contest. Logan Dee got the start for the Monks and allowed just one run on two hits over four innings of work. Jason Johnson (1-1) pitched two innings of shutout ball out of the bullpen to pick up the win. Hugh Barrett (one inning) and Jack Dyer (two innings) finished things off for the visitors. 

The Bobcats (1-7) started senior Christopher McGrail (Dedham, Mass.) and the southpaw went three innings, giving up four runs on five hits. McGrail (0-2) struck out one and did not walk anyone in the loss. 

Luke Doughty led off the game with a double and Michael Werne followed with a double of his own. Doughty had to wait to see if the ball would drop into the gap, so he only advanced 90 feet on the play. But both runners ended up scoring, as Dawson Gundlah delivered a sacrifice fly that also moved Werne to third. Then Werne scored on an infield single off the bat of Ethan Belvin. 

Down 2-0, the Bobcats got a two-out double from junior Gibby Sullivan (Yarmouth, Maine) in the bottom of the first. But Dee got a ground out to end the inning without any damage.

McGrail tossed a scoreless second and a 1-2-3 third inning. Then Ryan (Salem, N.H.) cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the third with a solo home run off the top of the yellow piping of the left-center field fence. It was Ryan's fourth career long ball, and his second at Leahey Field.  

But the Monks wasted no time getting the run back, thanks to a Nic Frink solo home run to lead off the fourth. Another Belvin single chased McGrail from the game. First-year Charlie Bushley (Cohasset, Mass.) entered the game and struck out the first batter he faced. Back-to-back singles after that brought Belvin in and the Monks led 4-1.

Saint Joseph's loaded the bases with two outs, only to see Bushley strike out Werne to prevent further damage.

Bushley ended up giving up one run in three innings of relief. Sophomore Nolan Hobbs (South Portland, Maine), senior Micah Sheets (Niwot, Colo.), and senior Matthew Shrake (Chicago, Ill.) all tossed scoreless innings for Bates.

However, the Bobcats managed just five hits in the contest. Meanwhile, the Monks tallied 16 hits on the afternoon. Ryan led the way for the hosts, going 2-3 at the dish. Frink and Belvin tallied three hits each for Saint Joseph's. The Bobcats were within four runs until Saint Joseph's added two in the top of the ninth. The Monks left 12 men on base while Bates stranded six.

The Bobcats are back in action this Friday at MIT. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.