LEWISTON, Maine - The Bowdoin College baseball team kept its playoff hopes alive with an emphatic 15-4 win over Bates on Tuesday afternoon.

The Polar Bears finish their NESCAC campaign with a 6-6 record and move to 14-17 overall. Bates falls to 12-16 (4-5 NESCAC) as Bowdoin takes the season series 2-1. The Bobcats will face Trinity in a three-game set this weekend to round out the regular season and Bowdoin will need Bates to win two of three, but not sweep the Bantams, in order to clinch a playoff bid.

For the second time this month, the Bowdoin offense exploded for 15 runs against Bates. The Polar Bears scored three runs in five different innings - including the first two - and cruised behind eight strong innings from Henry Van Zant, who improved to 7-1 with three earned runs and 12 strikeouts.

The Polar Bears jumped ahead thanks to a two-out rally in the first inning as Cole DiRoberto laced a two-run single to get Bowdoin on the board. DiRoberto later scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. After Bates trimmed the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the frame, Bowdoin got and RBI single from Aaron Rose, a bases loaded walk from Chad Martin and a ground out from DiRoberto to push the lead to 6-2 in the second. Bates stayed in the game thanks to a pair of runs in the third inning to cut the edge to 6-4.

Bowdoin put the game out of reach in the fifth when Chad Martin ripped a three-run home run to make it 9-4. Chris Cameron ripped consecutive run-scoring doubles in the sixth to up the lead to 12-4 and DiRoberto sparked another rally in the ninth with an RBI single. Sam Canales plated two more runs with a single to round out the scoring for Bowdoin.

DiRoberto finished 3-6 with three RBI and two runs scored. Rosen reached base four times and scored twice while Chris Cameron and Chad Martin scored three runs each for the Polar Bears.

The Polar Bears will return to action on Thursday afternoon with a 4:30 game at home against the University of Southern Maine.