Bard College Drops Series to Bates

By Pearllan Cipriano

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON – The Bard baseball team lost the weekend series to Bates, which concluded on Sunday afternoon at Honey Field. The Bobcats won the second game of the three-game set by a score of 7-3, and the two squads played 15 innings before Bates triumphed 4-2 in the finale.

The second game started on Saturday and was paused due to rain, and picked up on Sunday morning. Bates was leading 3-2 in the top of the fifth when the game restarted, adding four more runs to their lead in that inning. The Raptors pulled a run back in the bottom of the sixth but was unable to pull any more back.

In Game 3, Bard took an early lead with back-to-back doubles by Mike Hannan and Sam Dumper to go up 2-0. Bryant Elliott was impeccable on the mound for the Raptors, throwing the first six innings and only allowing three hits. He tied his career-high of eight strikeouts.

In the top of the ninth inning, Bates tied the game with a ground-out RBI by Jankowski and a Raptor error. Bard had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth with runners in scoring position but was unable to bring a run home. In extra innings, Bard had five runners left on base, but Bates scored in the 15th inning with a solo home run by Brandon Biggane and an RBI single by Ben Genser, taking 4-2 lead.

It was the longest game in Bard baseball history, surpassing a 13-inning win over Skidmore on April 23, 2022.

Offensively, the Raptors had contributions from Jimmy Famularo and Hannan, each with three hits, and Hannan had a pair of walks. Xavier Webb had two hits and three walks, Kam Naficy walked three times, and Mike Lynch also reached on a pair of walks.

Luke Lanngford came into Game 2 in relief and threw 2.2 innings and had a strikeout, while Evan Landsman and Nikhil Newman both came in as relief for Game 3. Landsman threw 3.2 innings and had four strikeouts, while Newman threw 5.1 innings and had two strikeouts.

Next up, Bard will travel down to Florida for the spring break trip. The Raptors will face UW-Eau Claire on Saturday for a doubleheader, Elmhurst on Sunday for a doubleheader and a single game against Keuka on Tuesday.