GAME ONE BOX SCORE (Bowdoin 14, Wesleyan 7)
GAME TWO BOX SCORE (Bowdoin 7, Williams 3)
GAME THREE BOX SCORE (Tufts 6, Bowdoin 1)

MEDFORD, Mass. - The Bowdoin College baseball team came within outs of their first NESCAC Championship, winning a pair of games to advance to the final against Tufts, before falling to the Jumbos after a late rally, 6-2. The Polar Bears, who eliminated Wesleyan, 14-7, and Williams, 7-3, earlier in the day, will hold out hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced next week.

A pair of gutty pitching performances propelled the Polar Bears (25-15) to the final, as Joe Pace and Tim Welch earned complete-game victories to send Bowdoin to the championship game.

Bowdoin 14, Wesleyan 7
In a game that was resumed following yesterday's rainout with Bowdoin carrying a 7-2 lead into the fourth, the Polar Bear offense soared in support of Pace.

Saturday, Wesleyan got on the board with an unearned run in the first inning, but Bowdoin grabbed two in the second and four runs in the third to jump out to a 6-2 advantage. Junior 3B Brett Gorman was 5 for 5 with five runs scored and three RBI in the game for Bowdoin. Senior 1B Kevin Zikaras had four RBI as part of a 4 for 5 game, including a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 10-5 after Wesleyan had threatened to get back into the game with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Senior Joe Pace pitched a complete game over the two days to earn the victory and improve to 4-2 on the season. Pace allowed four earned runs and struck out four batters while giving up 10 hits and walking five. The teams combined for nine errors in the contest, five of them by Wesleyan which led to eight unearned runs for the Polar Bears.

Bowdoin 7, Williams 3
The Polar Bears got a complete-game win from sophomore Tim Welch their second straight as they staved off elimination for the second time. Welch allowed eight hits and three runs in nine innings. Though he walked nine, only one scored. He stranded 13 Williams runners on base.

The Ephs opened with a run in the first, as sophomore CF Stephen Maier singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Chad Brown. However, the Polar Bears retaliated with two in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good. Senior 1B Kevin Zikaras singled in the second run.

The Polar Bears added five unearned runs and led 7-2 through six. Junior 3B Brett Gorman doubled home a run in the third and Zikaras hit a run-scoring single in the fifth. Williams had plated a run in the sixth on a lead-off walk by freshman 3B Taylor Mondshein and an RBI single by Maier.

Williams closed to within 7-3 when junior RF Pat Barren led off with a walk and eventually scored on a Polar Bear error. That would be all for the Ephs (23-12-1) The only inning in which Bowdoin's Welch did not allow a base runner was in the ninth.

Zikaras finished the game 2 for 4 with two RBI for Bowdoin, which finished with seven hits. Junior CF Brendan Garner also had two hits and scored a run.

Tufts 6, Bowdoin 1
Bowdoin carried a 1-0 lead for five and a half innings in the championship tilt. In the first inning, the first two hitters for the Polar Bears reached safely including junior LF Matt Ruane's mammoth double to center field. That knocked in Polar Bear leadoff batter Reid Auger, who walked to start the game.

After the first two batters, Bowdoin would not be able to muster much more offensive production against eight Tufts pitchers. Only sophomore starter Dave Ryan pitched two innings. The Tufts staff allowed only three hits while walking four batters and striking out six Polar Bears. Sophomore Jake Crawford pitched a perfect top of the sixth to pick up the win, his first decision of the season. Senior Tom Hill pitched a 1-2-3 fourth with two strikeouts and junior Ed Bernstein struck out the side in the eighth.

Bowdoin starting pitcher Ben Higgins took the loss for Bowdoin, dropping to 0-3 after pitching six innings. Higgins was cruising until the sixth, but could not close out the Jumbos as the Polar Bear defense struggled. Bowdoin committed three errors as Tufts scored four times in the frame to take the lead for good.