Baseball team's rally falls just short at Hadlock

PORTLAND, Maine --- The Colby College baseball team nearly did away with a 7-0 deficit with six runs in the top of the ninth inning, but Bates College held on for a 7-6 win over the Mules in a game at Hadlock Field, the home of the Class-AA Portland Sea Dogs.
 
Bates pitcher Karl Alexander (Cambridge, Mass.) held the Mules (16-17, 3-9 NESCAC East) scoreless through eight innings and was riding a 7-0 lead before running into trouble in the ninth, as Colby put its first four batters on base. Mike Mastrocola hit a fielder's choice with the bases loaded to score Brandon Nieuw for Colby's first run, and both Devlin McConnell and Brendan Gallagher followed with two more run-scoring singles to chase Alexander in favor of junior Mike Antonellis.

Taro Gold greeted Antonellis with a two-run double to close the gap to 7-6. Gold advanced to third base on pinch hitter Lucas Geoghegan's ground out, but Antonellis shut the door by getting a game-ending pop fly, earning his first save of the season.

Bates jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, as Griff Tewksbury led off with a walk, followed by a Steve Burke single and another walk drawn by Kevin McGregor to load the bases with no outs. Jeff Gunn brought Tewksbury home with a ground out, and McGregor scored when Mekae Hyde reached on an error. Ryan Sonberg then laid down a squeeze bunt to score McGregor before Colby starter Nate Sugarbaker struck out Ryan Curit to end the inning.

Bates struck for two more runs in the fourth, loading the bases again with two outs before Curit drew an RBI walk and McGregor was hit by a pitch for another RBI, chasing Sugarbaker in favor of Mark Collins.

Holding a 5-0 lead, Bates added two insurance runs it would turn out to need in the seventh. Once again, Bates loaded the bases before Colby could record an out, with a leadoff single by Mike Ciummei, a walk to Tewksbury and a walk to Burke. Colby summoned its fifth pitcher of the game, Abhi Chandel, to face McGregor, who hit a sac fly to right field to score Ciummei. Gunn then reached on an error, allowing Tewksbury to come home for a 7-0 lead.

Colby outhit Bates 9-5 thanks to the six-hit barrage in the ninth. Gold was the only player in the game with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Colby hosts Williams for a doubleheader this Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Bates 7, Colby 6 (Apr 29, 2012 at Portland, Maine)
Colby............... 000 000 006 - 6 9 2    (16-17, 3-9 NESCACE)
Bates............... 030 200 20X - 7 5 0    (21-15, 5-7 NESCACE)
Pitchers: Colby - N.Sugarbaker; M. Collins(4); S. Goldberg(6); M. Nelson(7); A. Chandel(7) and
D. McConnell. Bates - Karl Alexander; Mike Antonellis(9) and Jeffrey Gunn.
Win-Karl Alexander(5-4) Save-Mike Antonellis(1) Loss-N.Sugarbaker(2-4) T- A-300
M. Nelson faced 3 batters in the 7th.