MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Bowdoin College plated the tying run in the top of the ninth and go-ahead run in the top of the 11th, then retired the side in order in the bottom of the 11th for a 3-2 victory over Amherst College in Game 2 of the 2012 NESCAC Baseball Championship.

Bowdoin (24-16) advances to play Trinity College in Game 4 of the tournament at Trinity, while Amherst (23-9) will take on Williams College in an elimination game at Wesleyan. The first pitch in both games is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Bowdoin freshman Aaron Rosen struck the decisive blow in the 11th, as his two-out single through the right side brought home junior Tim McGarry to make the score 3-2. McGarry had led off with a full-count walk, then advanced to second on a grounder and third on a deep fly ball to right-center. Junior Adam Medoff (2-1), who had entered the game to start the 11th, took the loss for Amherst.
    
McGarry also scored the tying run for Bowdoin in the top of the ninth. The junior LF led off the inning with a single through the left side, and junior Dan Findley followed with a single through the right side. Junior Luke Regan then hit a hard grounder towards the right side that took a bad hop and sailed over the head of the Amherst second baseman and into right field, allowing McGarry to scamper home and knot the score at 2-2.

Amherst had taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth on a single by senior Mike Samela. Freshman Brendon Hardin led off with a full-count walk and advanced to second on a groundout. Following a foul pop-up, senior Kevin Heller was intentionally walked to bring up Samela, whose grounder through the left side brought home Hardin. Sophomore Quinn Saunders-Kolberg followed with a fly ball to left that nearly dropped in, but McGarry made a terrific diving catch to save two runs.

Bowdoin jumped on the board first on a one-out RBI single by McGarry in the fourth. Sophomore John Lefeber led off with a double to left-center and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. McGarry followed with a line drive just inside the right-field line to plate Lefeber, but Amherst junior Bob Cook induced a double-play grounder to end the inning without further damage. Amherst got the run back in the bottom of the inning, as junior Dan Pillitteri blasted a one-out home run over the left-field fence on a 2-0 count. The round-tripper was Pillitteri's first of the year and just his second extra-base hit of the campaign.

Cook was superb for Amherst, throwing 8.2 innings while scattering eight hits, striking out five, and throwing 64 of his 89 pitches for strikes. Junior Oliver Van Zant had an equally strong effort for Bowdoin, going eight innings while allowing five hits and racking up seven strikeouts, the last coming on his 123rd and final pitch of the afternoon to strand a runner at third. Freshman Henry Van Zant picked up the win for Bowdoin to improve to 3-3, as he blanked Amherst over the final three innings while allowing just one hit, a two-out infield single in the ninth.

Amherst, the top seed in the West division, will look to improve to 4-0 this season against Williams in tomorrow's elimination game, as the Lord Jeffs swept the three-game regular-season series against their bitter rival. Trinity, the East division champion, took two of three from East runner-up Bowdoin during the regular season.