Senior left-hander Tyler Leavitt and four relievers combined for a five-hit shutout as the University of Southern Maine Huskies blanked the Bowdoin College Polar Bears, 6-0 in a non-conference game Wednesday night at the Colby College Baseball-Softball Complex.
The win snapped a threegame losing skid for the Huskies and improved their overall record to 8-7. The Polar Bears, playing their first game in 12 days, fell to 6-9.
The game was played at Colby due to unplayable field conditions at both USM and Bowdoin.
Leavitt went the first five innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five. Leavitt was followed to the mound by senior Alex Tobey, sophomores Tanner Laberge and Matt Correale, and senior Zack Bean. Each pitched a scoreless inning.
The Huskies padded their lead in the sixth inning. Hiller scored the first run coming home from third on a wild pitch. A Kip Richard’s fielder’s choice plated the second run, and a sacrifice fly off the bat of rookie Andrew Olszak made it 6-0.
Bowdoin advanced a runner as far as third in the third and fourth innings against Leavitt, but was unable to push across a run.
Junior Nick Sadler and senior Evann Dumont- LaPoint had two hits apiece for the Polar Bears. Rookie Colby Lewis, the third of 10 Bowdoin pitchers used in the game, was tagged with the loss.
Bowdoin will begin a three-game series with New England Small College Athletic Conference foe Bates College on Friday. The series will be played at Colby, with Friday’s game at 3 p.m. and Saturday’s doubleheader beginning at noon.
Men’s lacrosse
Bates rallied from a three-goal deficit with under nine minutes to play to defeat Bowdoin, 13-12 on a Kyle Weber goal with 18 seconds remaining on Wednesday evening at Ryan Field.
The Bobcats remained unbeaten and improved to 9- 0 (6-0 NESCAC). The Polar Bears saw their six-game winning streak come to a close and fell to 6-3 (4-2 NESCAC).
The game was heavyweight battle throughout as neither squad took control of the contest in the opening half. Bowdoin owned a 3-2 lead after one quarter thanks to a pair of Jimmy Young goals, but Bates battled back in the second period, sparked by two Charlie Fay scores to carry a slim 6-5 advantage into the break.
Bowdoin opened the third quarter on a 5-1 run to take the biggest lead of the game, 10-7, as Sam Carlin keyed a surge that included tallies from Daniel O’Berry and Tim Bulens in a span of 2:50.
Bates clawed back into the contest thanks to a pair of late goals from Andrew Small and Andrew Melvin to trim the lead to 10-9 after three quarters.
Bowdoin scored twice in the opening two minutes of the final quarter, getting goals from Matthew Crowell and Brett Kujala to match its biggest lead, 12-9, with 13:25 to go. However, the Bobcats held Bowdoin scoreless for the remainder of the contest to spur the game-winning rally.
The Polar Bears carried the three-goal lead under nine minutes to play, but Fay scored an unassisted goal at 8:20, and assisted on a Matt Chlastawa at 6:44 to cut the lead to 12-11.
The Bobcats took advantage of a Bowdoin penalty with under three minutes to play and scored a man-up goal from Kyle Weber at 2:34 to deadlock the contest. Bowdoin’s Sam Carlin won the ensuing faceoff, but Mitchell Drake made a key save in goal for Bates with 1:49 to go.
The Bobcats controlled with under a minute to play and cycled the ball from Melvin to Weber, who unleashed a high shot to the top-left corner with 18 ticks remaining.
Bowdoin won the final faceoff, but too little time remained to get off a quality chance as the Bobcats clung to the victory.
Fay had four goals and an assist, while Chlastawa had three goals and two assists to lead the Bobcats.
Bowdoin was paced by a two-goal, two-assist effort from Shawn Daly, while Crowell and Bulens had two goals and one assist each. Daniel Buckman led all players with four assists.
Bowdoin will host Connecticut College on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Women’s rugby
Saturday’s season-opening
women’s rugby match scheduled between Bowdoin and the University of Rhode Island has been moved to URI due to unplayable field conditions in Brunswick. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
Softball
Bowdoin has rescheduled its doubleheader against Husson for this Friday at Colby College, with first pitch scheduled for 4:15 p.m. in Waterville.
Bowdoin will visit Wesleyan on Saturday for two games, beginning at 2 p.m., and conclude a busy weekend with a make-up contest at Trinity Sunday at noon.
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