LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates College baseball team passed the 20-win mark for the second time in team history, and three school career records fell in Game 2 as the Bobcats swept St. Joseph's College of Maine in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon at Leahey Field by scores of 6-2 and 9-1.
The Bobcats finish the season with a 21-15 record, a year after posting a program-record 25 wins. The visiting Monks, already headed for NCAA Division III Championship play, dropped to 30-13.
After the 6-2 win in Game 1, Bates senior Noah Lynd (Meriden, N.H.) opened the scoring in Game 2 with a solo home run to left field in the second inning, Lynd's fourth of the season and the 21st of his career, tying for the team's all-time home runs record with Jason Coulie '00, while also extending his own career extra-base hits record to 54 (33 doubles, 21 home runs).
Later on in the fifth inning, senior starting pitcher Paul Chiampa (Pembroke, Mass.) struck out Sam Butts for his lone strikeout of the game, but the 131st of his career, moving out of a tie with Dennis Gromelski '88 for the team's all-time record. In the bottom of the fifth inning, senior Jake Simon (Waterford, Conn.) hit a bases-loaded single for his 106th career RBI, tying with Chris Hickey '88 for Bates' all-time record with 106 runs batted in.
Another of Bates' nine graduating players, captain Pat Murphy (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) extended his own career stolen bases record earlier in the fifth inning, swiping second base for the 50th steal of his career.
Beyond the individual career records being set, the Bobcats finished the season very impressively against the eighth-ranked team in New England in St. Joe's. Bates won its final three games and 10 of its last 11.
In Game 1, sophomore starting pitcher Mike Antonellis (Sudbury, Mass.) went five innings and allowed just two runs (one earned), limiting the Monks to five hits and one walk while striking out four batters to finish the season at 3-1. Sophomore Michael Spinosa (Charlottesville, Va.) finished up a stellar season with two perfect innings of relief, facing the minimum six batters and striking out one for his second save of the season while lowering his earned-run average to 2.48.
St. Joe's got on the board first as Todd Keneborus hit a solo home run to right-center field in the first inning. Monks starter Sam Murray held the Bobcats scoreless for the first two innings, but Bates plated two runs in the third. The Bobcats led off the inning with three straight singles by Murphy, sophomore Ryan Sonberg (Windsor, Conn.) and first-year Griff Tewksbury (Concord, N.H.) to load the bases. Lynd's one-out fielder's choice scored Murphy, and junior Mike Ciummei (Acton, Mass.) singled down the left-field line to drive in Sonberg before Murray escaped further damage.
St. Joe's added a second run off of Antonellis in the fifth to tie the game at 2-2, as Willie Brown hit a bloop single to center, advanced to second on a failed pickoff throw by Bates catcher Simon, moved on to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error by Tewksbury at second base.
Bates quickly got back on top, however, with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back homers to right field by Tewksbury and senior Chris Burke (Andover, Mass.), both hit off of St. Joe's reliever Joe Gruntkowsky, who dipped to 3-2. Tewksbury finished the year with four round-trippers, tying with Simon for the team lead, while Burke notched his second homer of the season and the eighth of his career.
Bates added another two runs in the sixth, as Sonberg's one-out single down the left-field line scored sophomore Kevin McGregor (Randolph, N.J.), who had walked, and Simon, who had singled.
Chris Burke was 3-for-4 in Game 1, while Sonberg and Tewksbury both went 2-for-4. Keneborus was 2-for-3 for the Monks.
Bates got a 1-0 lead in Game 2 on Lynd's record-tying home run, then extended it to 3-1 in the fourth inning with two runs off of St. Joe's starter Kevin Chamberlain, who dropped to 2-3. St. Joe's cleanup hitter Mike Pratt had tied the game in the top of the fourth with a solo home run to left center. Chris Burke scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning after leading off with an infield single, moving to second when Chamberlain hit Lynd with a pitch, getting to third on senior Gordy Webb's (Hampden, Maine) sacrifice bunt, and coming home on a sharp single to right by Ciummei. Lynd scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.
After a 5-4-3 double play executed by the Bobcats in the top of the fifth, Bates blew the game open with six runs in the fifth on seven hits, including a two-run single by Chris Burke, an RBI single by Ciummei, Simon's record-tying RBI single to right, and a two-run single to right by Murphy, which made it 9-1.
Lynd was 2-for-3 with three runs scored in Game 2, one of five Bobcats with two hits in the game, along with senior Noah Burke (Appleton, Maine), Chris Burke, Ciummei (who was 2-for-2) and Murphy.
Chiampa threw all seven innings in the game, finishing 2-2 on the season and 11-13 for his career. Chiampa allowed the one earned run while scattering three hits and four walks.
COURTESY OF BATES COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION