Three up, three down. The Trinity Bantams swept the baseball team this weekend in convincing fashion. Trinity, 3-0 in the NESCAC this year, seemed determined not to relinquish the league's top spot. They scored 27 runs against the Bears while only letting up 12 en route to the clean sweep.
On the positive side, Jason Koperniak '09 was a consistent offensive threat for the Bears, producing five hits and two RBIs in the three-game set. The young talent of Adam Marquit '11 and Matt Ruane '11 has also proved to be an integral part of the team. Even so, this season it's going to be an uphill battle for the Bears to catch Trinity, the defending national champions.
However, the weekend losses didn't discourage the team long. They rebounded with a mid-week 7-4 upset of the nationally ranked University of Southern Maine Huskies, No. 24 in the country going into Tuesday's game.
"It was big for us after Trinity," said Coach Mike Connolly. "It was an immediate reminder that when we play our best ball, we can beat anyone in the country."
Joe Pace '10 carried the team on his arm with a dominating seven-inning performance, allowing just one run on five hits.
"He was untouchable," said Nick Pisegna '11. "We needed a strong start after the weekend and he gave us just that."
Offensively, Marquit and Reid Auger '10 provided the majority of the run support with two RBIs each. But although the Bears maintained a comfortable 7-1 lead for the majority of the game, junior Eric Chenelle had to shut the door in the eighth after the Huskies cut the deficit in half with a three-run homer to make it 7-4. He did just that. Senior Pat Driscoll relieved Chenelle in the ninth and recorded the save with little trouble.
The win improved the team to 11-11 on the season, having slipped below .500 for just a few days. The win also marked the 189th career victory for Connolly during his 10 years here. He is now tied with former coach Harvey Shapiro for the most wins by any Bowdoin baseball coach.
"To me it's a program achievement, a testament to all the great players and coaches that I've had the privilege of working with over the years."
The team faces Thomas College on Sunday. The Terriers have struggled this season, going 0-9 over all and 0-4 against NESCAC teams. The 190th career win doesn't look too far away for Connolly, but he wasn't ready to jump to conclusions.
"Knock on wood...knock on wood," he said.