Courtesy of Brian Beard

The baseball team (12–2; 0–0 NESCAC) is off to a hot start in its 2025 campaign. Over spring break, the team played 11 games in Davenport, Fla. against a variety of Division III teams, remaining unbeaten until the last series of the break.

In the first game of a double-header against the State University of New York Plattsburgh (5–6) on March 18th, the Polar Bears started strong in the first inning with a Kevin Murray ’25 double that scored Will Bordes ’26. The line kept moving as the fifth batter, Liam Foley ’26, hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Murray.

In the fourth inning, the Polar Bears tacked on four more runs via a string of hits. With Conor Moriarty ’28 on, Cal Thompson ’27 singled to drive his teammate in. Leadoff hitter Reuben Siegel ’27 followed with a triple, scoring Thompson.  Bordes added on a single to score Siegel, and, finally, Murray doubled to score Bordes. Plattsburgh responded in the bottom of the seventh inning with four runs of its own, but it was too little too late to catch the Polar Bears.

Jackson Melendy ’26 got the start on the mound in the first game, making his second appearance of the young season. Earning the win, Melendy threw six innings, only allowing one hit and striking out five.

Melendy’s goals were simple going into his start against Plattsburgh, noting the strength of his teammates behind him to improve his performance.

“[I just wanted to] throw a bunch of strikes and keep the game moving along,… pound the zone and then let the fielders do their job and just go from there,” Melendy said.

In the second game, the Polar Bears opened the scoring during their first half inning of offense. After Siegel got on base, Murray doubled to drive him in. With the bases loaded, Finn Cahill ’28 drew a walk for the second run of the game. Two batters later, Will Cooke ’28 singled to right field to drive a third run.

While not on the mound in the second game, Melendy noted how helpful it is to pitchers when their teammates score in the first inning.

“You feel comfortable up there,” Melendy said. “You’re allowed to maybe make a mistake here and there and know that your guys got your back, so it’s a really great feeling.”

Rudy Gately ’27 made his second appearance of the season, going three innings while striking out three batters and allowing one run. Franco Ruocco ’27 recorded the win with his two innings of no-run ball, and Bordes got his third save of the season with the final two innings on the mound.

The next day, Bowdoin played Coe College (10–4), dropping its last two games of the spring break trip.

Both teams emphasized pitching and defense in the first game, as no runs crossed home plate until the bottom of the fifth inning when Coe bunted in a run. They would follow the run up with a single in the sixth to make the score 2–0.

The Polar Bears didn’t give up, and with two runners already on base, Thompson reached first on an error, scoring Chris Dirks ’25. With two runners on and two outs, Siegel flew out to the third baseman to end the game.

Despite not coming through with a win, Bordes praised the team’s ability to stay calm and focused in stressful situations.

“In all of our off season training that we do, our coaches like to say, ‘How you do the little things is how you do everything,’” Bordes said. “When you get in that moment, you go out more comfortable, and it just feels like another day with the team.”

After scoring in the bottom of the first via a Foley single that scored Bordes, the second game wasn’t as close. Coe scored six runs in the second and third innings combined, solidifying the final score of 9–2 after a double from Cahill that scored Foley in the bottom of the sixth.

Back in Brunswick this past Tuesday, the Polar Bears beat the University of Southern Maine for the first time since 2018. With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth inning, Siegel hit a single to the right side that scored Cooke from second base, making the final score 5–4.

Bordes is excited for the rest of the season and hopes the momentum from the first games of the season will propel them into successful NESCAC play.

“We’re ecstatic right now. Everyone’s bringing a little extra excitement to the field now,” Bordes said. “I think it’s also important for us to just take it with a grain of salt. As long as we just stick with our mentalities and keep playing hard, everything will work out for us.”

The team will return to action this afternoon for its first conference doubleheader at home against Trinity College (6–8; 0–0 NESCAC) at 2 p.m., with the second game following at 4:30 p.m.