WATERVILLE, Maine -- The Bates baseball team fell to Colby in a pair of one-run games on Saturday as the Mules swept the three-game series.

Game One: Colby 3, Bates 2 (10 innings)

Despite coming back to tie the game while down to their last out, Bates fell to Colby 3-2 in ten innings Saturday afternoon in the first game of their doubleheader.

Down 2-0, Bates began its charge in the sixth when sophomore David Swift (Yarmouth, Maine) launched a solo home run to cut the deficit in half. 

The Bobcats kept pushing in the seventh when pinch hitter first-year Brady Thompson (Newark, Del.) reached on a single, and a two-base error opened the door for junior captain Keagan Ryan (Salem, N.H.) to drive him in with a single to center, knotting the game at 2-2. 

Sophomore Ezra Pate (Baton Rouge, La.) came on in the seventh and was brilliant, holding Colby scoreless through the eighth and ninth innings while allowing just three hits and striking out one. With the Bobcats failing to push across a run in extras, Will Burns put Colby over the finish line with a walk-off home run.

Sophomore starting pitcher Charlie Bushley (Cohasset, Mass.) gave Bates a quality effort, going six innings and allowing two runs. 

Bates finished with just five hits on the day and stranded nine base runners, a number that haunted them in what turned out to be a one-run game.

Swift finished 1-for-4 with a walk and the go-ahead homer. Ryan was 1-for-4 with the tying RBI in the seventh.

Game Two: Colby 11, Bates 10

Bates built a commanding six-run lead through four innings, only to watch it evaporate in a stunning five-run Colby sixth inning and a two-run seventh that handed the Mules an 11-10 victory and a doubleheader sweep. 

Bates came out swinging from the opening frame. Ryan set the tone immediately, singling down the left field line and swiping second, before scoring on a Gibby Sullivan (Yarmouth, Maine) ground out to give the Bobcats a quick 1-0 lead. The offense kept rolling in the second, when sophomore Max Dushney (Ashland, Mass.) plated junior Henry Prince (McLean, Va.) on a fielder's choice to make it 2-1.

In the third inning, Sullivan delivered a two-RBI single through the middle, scoring Ryan and senior Jack Margiloff (Rye, N.Y.) to push the lead to 4-3. Sophomore Tyler Tucker (Hamilton, N.J.) and senior Joe Yoxall (Dallas, Texas) added RBIs of their own, extending Bates' lead to 6-3. Sullivan drove in another run on a fly ball in the fourth to extend it to 7-3, and two Colby errors gifted Bates three more runs in the sixth to make it 10-4.

Junior starting pitcher Nolan Hobbs (South Portland, Maine) tossed five innings of three earned-run baseball, doing his job in a seven-inning game. 

Bates' bullpen collapsed in the bottom of the sixth, giving up four runs before recording the second out of the inning. They would give up another in the sixth, and two more in the seventh to watch their lead evaporate and fall 11-10. 

Sullivan was the offensive standout for Bates, going 1-for-5 but driving in four runs. Ryan had a terrific day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and four stolen bases. Prince finished 2-for-3 with a walk. The final margin could not overcome a defense that committed two errors and a pitching staff that was ultimately undone in a brutal sixth inning.

Bates (16-6, 4-5 NESCAC) returns to action on Monday as they travel to Gorham, Maine to play University of Southern Maine at 4 p.m.