Baseball: Bowdoin sweeps Trinity

The Bowdoin College baseball team took a doubleheader from Trinity, 5-2 and 8-2, on Saturday at Pickard Field, sweeping a three-game NESCAC East Division series from the Bantams for the first time in school history. The Polar Bears, who have won four straight against Trinity dating back to last spring, improve to 16-6 (5-1 NESCAC) while the Bantams fall to 13-12 (3-6 NESCAC).

Jordan Edgett had another outstanding day, connecting for four hits including a pair of doubles and a home run with three runs scored for the Polar Bears. Bowdoin's Oliver Van Zant (1-1) earned the victory with seven strikeouts in game one and John Lefeber (3-1) collected the game two victory with seven strong innings.

Trailing 1-0 after a Kevin Mortimer home run gave Trinity an early edge in game one, Bowdoin scraped together three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead for good. The Polar Bears loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch and then plated two runs as the Bantams attempted to turn two on a ground ball by Bowdoin's Adam Marquit that saw a throw by Joe Papa sail high of first. Kyle LeBlanc followed with an RBI double to make it 3-1 Polar Bears. Mortimer trimmed the lead to 3-2 with an RBI ground out in the top of the third inning but Bowodin responded in the bottom of the frame with an Edgett double followed by a Brett Gorman single. Edgett added an insurance run with a blast to left in the fifth inning to make it 5-2.

Van Zant stymied the Bantam bats, striking out seven batters and allowing five hits over five innings to garner the win. Drew LoRusso struck out two batters in the seventh to get the ball to closer Ian Edwards who earned his second save in as many days to clinch the win. Trinity's Ryan Carr was chased after three innings and two earned runs and was tagged with the loss. Edgett and LeBlanc had two hits apiece in the victory for Bowdoin.

The Bowdoin bats came alive in game two in support of Lefeber as the Polar Bears rolled in game three. Matt Ruane's majestic home run to deep left gave the hosts a 1-0 lead, but Trinity was able to claw together a pair of runs in the third frame on another Mortimer RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Papa. Bowdoin quickly answered in the bottom of the inning when Edgett scored from first on a Brendan Garner double to tie the game. After a wild pitch moved Garner to third, Brett Gorman gave Bowdoin the lead for good with a tape-measure blast to left-center that cleared the wall and rattled the top of the Grove Street fence for a 4-2 lead. The Polar Bears added two more runs on a pair of Trinity errors in the seventh and scored twice more on a Ruane triple and Garner double in the eighth.

Lefeber was strong on the mound for Bowdoin, allowing just four hits over seven innings to take the win. Evan Farley struck out two in relief and Jay Louglin tossed a perfect ninth to seal the victory. Andrew Janiga took the loss despite seven strikeouts, allowing four earned runs in six innings with two hit batsmen and two wild pitches. Ruane finished with three hits, two runs and two RBI and was a double short of the cycle. Garner also had three hits, two runs and two RBI in the win.

GAME ONE BOX SCORE

GAME TWO BOX SCORE