Courtsey of Brian Beard

The baseball team (19–4; 5–1 NESCAC) won two of its three games against Bates College (5–13; 2–4 NESCAC) over the weekend, rallying after a 3–4 loss on Friday. In a doubleheader Saturday, the team beat Bates 3–2 and 8–2 before completing its series sweep of Trinity College (8–13; 2–4 NESCAC) on Sunday with a 10–3 victory. The team also beat Thomas College (6–13) on Wednesday with a final score of 17 –6.

The Polar Bears started Saturday with a close game against the Bobcats. Chris Dirks ’25 had an RBI single, driving in Finn Cahill ’25 in the second inning. Bates kept the game close, tying it twice before Reuben Siegel ’25 secured a walk-off bunt in the seventh inning and forced an errant throw to first base, allowing Cal Thompson ’27 to score, finally clinching the game for Bowdoin.

For Dirks, the team’s mentality on Saturday stood out from the weekend.

“We just went back to work. We dropped our first conference game this year on Friday.… I think that it really says a lot about our team this year [and] our ability to come back to work on Saturday. It’s a new day. Every day you start 0–0 and take care of business in the game, what’s right in front of you,” Dirks said.

Kevin Murray ’25, who stole home, scoring in the third inning on Saturday, echoed this sentiment and felt that the loss on Friday was a wake-up call for the team.

“A big part of our identity is having a short memory, winning or losing. We want to go into every day having a 0–0 record, and our goal is just to be 1–0 that day,” Murray said.

Despite this mindset, Liam Foley ’26 added the walk-off win in game one on Saturday gave the team confidence going into the second half of the doubleheader.

“Although [Friday’s game one] wasn’t a hit or anything, it still got the fellas going,” Foley said. “[It] shows our resiliency throughout the season. Even if things haven’t gone our way every time, we have confidence that we can bounce back and win any game regardless of what the score is.”

The team quickly recovered, winning the first game on Saturday and took a commanding 4–0 lead in the first inning to set the tone from the start in the second Saturday game. The team didn’t let up, as Foley and Murray both drove in runs later in the game, and Conor Moriarty ’28 was walked with the bases loaded to score another. The Polar Bears recorded 11 stolen bases, and Jackson Melendy ’26 pitched 6.2 innings, striking out ten and only allowing one run.

“It’s always nice to pitch with a cushion, so you kind of feel like you can play a little more free,” Melendy said.

At the same time, Siegel emphasized the importance of taking it one inning or batter at a time.

“When you get in the moment, whether that’s an at bat or ball on the field … you can’t really focus on playing a four-game stretch. You gotta just play the game in front of you,” Siegel said.

The Polar Bears finished the four-game stretch with a win over Trinity. Six Bowdoin batters were hit by a pitch, including one that drove in a run when Cahill was hit with bases loaded. Bowdoin’s first RBI came in the seventh inning off the bat of Henry Bibeau ’27. Thompson, Will Bordes ’26, Will Cooke ’28 and Moriarty all had RBIs as well. Luca McKerley Coronado ’26 pitched seven innings, with five strikeouts and one run allowed.

Playing a four-game stretch can be challenging, but Dirks feels it is important to balance focus with staying loose.

“You don’t want to get locked in too early. We spend twelve hours at a baseball field some days. I think we do a really good job of helping each other get in the right place to focus up but also … helping one another to be able to play relaxed ball,” Dirks said.

Melendy emphasized the team’s competitive nature and how the players push each other to improve.

“I think there’s a lot of friendly competition, a lot of guys pushing each other to get better.… [It] just makes the team great,” Melendy said.

The Polar Bears lost to Husson University (13–9) on Monday evening and will travel to Medford, Mass. to play Tufts University (10–12; 2–1 NESCAC) this weekend.

Going forward with hopes of competing in the NESCAC Championship and NCAA tournament, Foley believes the team has to focus on consistency.

“I think doing a lot of little things well, making all the plays, executing bunts, executing stealing—those little things have really gone a long way,” Foley said.  “So, if we keep doing that, we’ll have a lot of success.”