LEWISTON — Bowdoin pitcher Oliver Van Zant outdueled Bates’ Tom Baroni over eight innings, staking the Polar Bears to a 3-0 lead, and Bowdoin held on for a 7-5 victory after a wild ninth inning for both teams Friday at Leahey Field.

Behind Van Zant’s eight shutout innings, Bowdoin (10-9, 2-2 NESCAC East) won the first of the teams’ three-game series, which continues with a doubleheader in Brunswick on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.

Van Zant allowed Bates (8-6, 2-2) five hits, all singles, and no walks while striking out eight batters to rise to 2-1 on the season. Bates rallied for five runs in the ninth inning before Henry Van Zant shut the door with a strikeout to earn the save of his brother’s win.

Baroni, the NESCAC pitcher of the week, allowed Bowdoin three runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks through the first eight innings before running into trouble in the ninth.

Bowdoin assumed a lead it never relinquished in the second inning with a pair of unearned runs. The Polar Bears loaded the bases with three straight one-out singles by Luke Regan, Sam Canales and Aaron Rosen.

Baroni induced a ground ball to first base out of Bowdoin designated hitter Harry Ridge, but an errant throw trying to force out Regan at home allowed the first run to cross the plate. Peter Cimini popped up for the second out. John Lefeber drew an RBI walk to make it 2-0 before Erik Jacobson’s lineout ended the inning.

Bowdoin added another run in the third, when Timothy McGarry and Duncan Taylor led off with back-to-back singles. Regan moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt. Canales followed with an RBI grounder to second to score McGarry, making it 3-0.

Bates didn’t see a baserunner reach third base until the seventh inning, when Kevin Davis singled up the middle, moved to second on Steve Burke’s infield single, then to third on Kevin McGregor’s groundout, putting Bates runners on second and third with one out. Oliver Van Zant then struck out Jeff Gunn and induced Nate Pajka into a grounder to end the threat.

Baroni came on to start the ninth inning and got the first two outs in short order, but the third out proved elusive.

Pinch hitter Kyle LeBlanc hit a sharp grounder toward Bates first baseman McGregor, but the ball took a tremendous hop well over McGregor’s head and into right field, where it was bobbled, allowing LeBlanc to reach second base as Rosen, who had singled, came home.

Lefeber then ripped a double to left field to score LeBlanc, and the two-out rally continued with an RBI single by Jacobson, a hit batsmen, and Taylor’s RBI single to right, which widened the gap to 7-0. At that point, Aidan Sullivan was summoned in relief of Baroni and got Dan Findley with a groundout to end the damage.

Bowdoin’s four insurance runs from the top of the ninth proved essential in the bottom of the frame, as Bates rallied for five runs (two earned) on four hits off of Bowdoin reliever Dave Bernstein.

Pinch hitter Rockwell Jackson led off with a single to right, and moved to second on Davis’s groundout. Burke was hit by a pitch, and Bates then had runners at the corners as Burke was cut down on McGregor’s fielder’s choice. Jeff Gunn then roped a single into right to score Jackson with Bates’ first run.

Pajka singled into center to score McGregor from second, and the Bobcats stayed alive when Sonberg reached on a throwing error and Gunn scored to make it 7-3. Mekae Hyde then came up and singled to center, scoring both Pajka and Sonberg to make it 7-5.

Bernstein was then lifted in favor of Henry Van Zant, who rang up the game-ending strikeout of Conor Reenstierna.

McGarry, Taylor and Rosen had two hits apiece among Bowdoin’s 11 total. Among Bates’ nine hits, both Gunn and Pajka were 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI apiece in the eighth and ninth spots in the batting order.

Trinity 13, Colby 11

HARTFORD, Conn. — The Trinity College offense posted a nine-run fifth inning to highlight a 13-11 comeback win over the visiting Colby College Mules in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East baseball action on Friday at Campus Field.

Trinity improves to 12-8 overall and 2-0 in the league with their fifth win in six games, and Colby drops to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in the league.

Colby scored in each of the opening four frames, including a five-run third, to build a 9-3 lead heading into the top of the fifth. The Bantam bats awoke in the bottom half of the inning, starting with a leadoff single by senior OF Alex Almeida (Bridgeport, Conn.). Consecutive Bantams were hit by a pitch, setting up consecutive bases loaded walks by senior co-captain Joe Papa (Stoneham, Mass.) and senior Evan Sternberg (Glen Ridge, N.J.), bringing the score to 9-5. Hot-hitting sophomore Scott Huley (Greenwich, Conn.), delivered a game-changing hit – a triple to deep right field – clearing the bases, and putting the Bantams within a run. A walk and a stolen base was followed by a two-RBI pinch hit single by senior Bryan Ginsberg (Westwood, Mass.), giving the Bantams a 10-9 lead. Trinity tacked on three more runs in the inning, on a two-run error and an RBI-double by senior co-captain Steve Rogers (Watertown, Mass.).

Junior Dave O’Brien (Fairfield, Conn.), who came in for relief in the third inning, followed the Trinity fifth with two scoreless innings on the hill, making him the pitcher of record for Trinity. Colby did not go down quietly. Sophomore Tim Corey (Framingham, Mass.) led off the eighth with a walk and worked his way around to score, before rookie Tyler Starks (Milton, Mass.) singled home another run, cutting the Trinity lead to 13-11. The Mules led off the ninth with a single before junior Peter Burrows (Floral Park, N.Y.) entered the game in relief and retired the final three batters to earn the save for the Bantams.

Papa had another big day at the plate, blasting a towering two-run home run in the first inning, a lead-off ground rule double in the second, which led to a run, and two walks in the Trinity fifth. Papa finished with three runs and three RBI offensively, while recording ten putouts with the glove at first base. Rogers and Ginsberg collected two this apiece for Trinity.

Colby racked up 15 hits, led by junior Alec Finigan (Milton, Mass.) and Starks, who picked up three hits apiece. Corey singled and homered for the Mules.

Trinity and Colby will resume their weekend long three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday slated for noon.

Softball

Tufts 3, Bowdoin 0

BRUNSWICK — Allyson Fournier struck out 17 batters and allowed no hits in leading Tufts to a 3-0 win over Bowdoin on Friday afternoon.

Tufts improves to 18-2 (4-0 NESCAC) as Bowdoin falls to 13-7 (2-2 NESCAC) in the opening game of their weekend series. The teams will continue their series with a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon beginning at 12:00 p.m. at Pickard Field.

While Bowdoin faced a dominant pitching performance from Fournier, Melissa DellaTorre frustrated the Tufts offense through the opening five innings. DellaTorre struck out four batters in the opening four innings, while only surrendering a pair of walks. Gen Barlow reached in the bottom of the first with a walk, but the offense was unable to advance the runner. On the mound for Tufts, Fournier proceeded to retire the Bowdoin lineup for the opening five frames.

The Jumbos’ bats got their first hit off DellaTorre in the top of the fifth as Christina Raso led off the inning with a single up the middle. Tufts broke through in the sixth, however, when Michelle Coo led off the frame by laying down a bunt on the first base line. A single to left field from Jo Clair gave Tufts a pair of runners and no outs. After forcing a fly out to left field, DellaTorre surrendered a three run shot off the bat of Kayla Holland for the only runs of the game.

Bowdoin and Tufts traded 1-2-3 at bats, before the Polar Bears reached in the bottom of the seventh. A leadoff walk put Toni DaCampo on first before she advanced to second on a walk by Katie Gately. The Polar Bears looked to move the runners with a pop-up from Victoria Rusch that dropped behind the third baseman on the edge of the grass. Tufts’ shortstop Bri Keenan made a diving catch, as the ball was about to drop in, and preserved Fournier’s no-hitter.

The no-hitter was the first against Bowdoin since 1999. Claire reached base three times for Tufts, walking twice to go with her hit in the sixth.

WATERVILLE —  Colby College second baseman Meaghan Lewia (Wells, Maine) moved her batting average to .500 with a pair of hits and two runs scored to help the Mules to a 4-3 home opener win over Bates College in New England Small College Athletic Conference softball Friday at Crafts Field.