Baseball will host Middlebury for the final games of the regular season this weekend. The two games will have no bearing on the playoff picture as the four teams in the championship have already secured their positions.
Bowdoin secured its spot in the playoffs last weekend in a three games series against Tufts. In the first game, the Jumbos jumped to an early lead with a two run homer in the bottom of the first inning. The Polar Bears fired back with five runs in the top of the second with RBIs from Buddy Shea ’15, Sam Canales ’15, and Kyle LeBlanc ’14. Tufts battled back to take the lead in the bottom of the third and the teams went into the fifth tied at seven. A two-run single in the bottom of the fifth gave the Jumbos a permanent lead and snapped the Polar Bears school-record winning streak of 12 games by beating them 11-7.
On Saturday, the first game of the doubleheader was scoreless through four innings. Southpaw Christian Martin ’14 gave up only two singles through 5.2 innings and struck out seven batters. Bowdoin took the lead in the top of the fifth with an RBI from senior captain Tim McGarry. The Polar Bears added three more runs in the top of the sixth with RBI singles from Canales and Duncan Taylor ’14, as well as a steal of home by Canales. Henry Van Zant ’15 struck out three batters in the bottom of the seventh to seal the 4-0 victory, which sealed a playoff position for Bowdoin.
Bowdoin scored first in the third game off an RBI from Canales in the top of the fourth inning, but that would be all for the Polar Bears as the Jumbos scored six runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take the game 6-1.
“With a berth into the playoffs on the line for both teams, the first two games were played at a tournament level,” said McGarry. “We battled through the first game but came up on the short end and locked back into the second game and got the job done. Overall we played good baseball and were happy to get into the playoffs for the fourth straight year.”
The Polar Bears will enter the playoffs as the second seed in the eastern division and will face tournament host Wesleyan (9-3 NESCAC, 21-13-1 overall) in the first round of the playoffs next Friday.
Bowdoin travelled to University of Southern Maine (USM) for a midweek non-conference game on Tuesday. The Huskies took a three-run lead in the bottom of the first and never looked back. The Polar Bears found some offense with RBI’s from LeBlanc, John Lefeber ’14, and McGarry, but USM kept the game out of reach and won 9-4.
“USM is the top team in New England right now and deservedly so,” said McGarry. “They have a very strong lineup from top to bottom and we were excited for the challenge. We hit the ball hard in the early innings, but weren’t able to translate those hits into many runs. Meanwhile, they used some free bases to get on the board early on. Despite the loss we came away with the feeling that we were able to compete with the top teams in the region.”
The baseball team will honor its six seniors—Oliver Van Zant, Beau Breton, Drew LoRusso, Luke Regan, Dan Findley, and McGarry— this Saturday in a doubleheader against Middlebury before the playoffs next weekend.
“We just want to continue to play consistent baseball,” said McGarry. “We want to have our pitchers and hitters fine-tune their game before the playoffs.”