The Bates College first varsity eight crew poses on the podium after a third-place finish in the 1V grand final at the IRA National Championship on Saturday in West Windsor, New Jersey. Stockton Photo

The Bates men’s rowing team placed third overall in the Division III competition at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship on Saturday in West Windsor, New Jersey.

The Bobcats’ first varsity eight crew placed third in the first varsity eight grand final to earn the program’s first medal at the IRA National Championship. Bates completed the 2-kilometer course on Mercer Lake in 6 minutes, 37.971 seconds — just behind runner-up Wesleyan, which finished in 6:37.899. Williams won the race in 6:32.401.

Bates’ second varsity eight placed fourth in its grand final, finishing in 6:49.730. Williams won the 2V grand final in 6:39.926.

The two Bates crews combined for 44 points, good enough for third out of eight teams. Williams won the national title with 54 points. Wesleyan was second with 50 points.

“I am really happy with the guys today,” Bobcats head coach Peter Steenstra said in a Bates College news release. “Both crews competed at their very best, and they fought all the way to the line.”

Bates’ first varsity eight crew features coxswain Aidan Braithwaite, stroke George Fauver, and bows Benjamin MacDonald, Sean Christiansen, Luke Desmaison, Benjamin Auerbach, Oliver Firmenich, Isaac Levinger and Charlie Berman.

The Bobcats’ second varsity eight includes Ian Van Loo (stroke), Isabel Beck (coxswain), and bows Riley Young, Andrew Frey, Samuel Marchman, Charles Renvyle, Timothy Bates, Conor McGuckin and Kelly McKaige.

BASEBALL
NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT
Louisiana 19, Maine 10
Dean O’Neill homered twice and drove in five runs but Maine fell behind early and couldn’t rally, falling to Louisiana 19-10 in an elimination game in the NCAA Division I baseball tournament on Saturday in Coral Gables, Florida.

Louisiana improves to 41-23 and will face the loser of Saturday’s late game between Miami and Texas in an elimination game on Sunday.

Maine, which reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011, ends the season, 32-21.

The Ragin Cajuns took a 4-0 lead in the second inning and stretched it to 10-3 in the fifth before adding nine in the seventh.

Jake Marquez and Jeremiah Jenkins also homered for the Black Bears. Jake Rainess was 3 for 3, while Marquez had three hits, scored three times and drove in two.

Kyle DeBarge, Carson Roccaforte each homered and drove in three runs for the Ragin Cajuns. Conor Higgs added a home run, two RBI and scored three times.