Parker, big hits power Mules past Bowdoin

Dan Csaplar pitched well in relief of starter Brooks Parker. (Dean Denis Photography)

WATERVILLE, Maine — Brooks Parker earned his first collegiate victory on the mound and the Colby College baseball team had seven extra-base hits in a 14-3 win over rival Bowdoin College on Friday at Coombs Field.

The Mules improve to 6-14 overall, but are now 2-2 in the conference. Bowdoin drops to 12-9 overall and 2-5 in the NESCAC East. The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at noon in Brunswick.

Matt Garcia smacked a three-run homer among his two hits and scored three runs for the Mules, who had six runs in the sixth inning and five more in the seventh. Dan Csaplar had a nice relief stint and had three hits and a pair of RBI. Zach Ellenthal doubled twice among his three hits, drove in three runs, and scored twice. Tommy Forese doubled and tripled while driving in two runs, while Soren Hanson had two hits and scored twice.

Bjorn Hansen, a late inning replacement, had a two-run homer in the ninth inning for Bowdoin. Nick
Sadler and Brandon Lopez both had two hits, while Colby Joncas had one hit and drove in a run.

Parker had his second straight solid start. He allowed six hits in 5.2 innings, struck out two, and walked two. Csaplar pitched the next 2.1 innings, did not allow a run, and had two strikeouts.

The Mules never trailed in the game after scoring lone runs in the second and fourth innings. Ellenthal had a single to bring in Andy Currier in the second. Hanson led off with a single in the fourth and eventually came around to score on a single by Csaplar.

The Polar Bears cut the margin to 2-1 in the sixth inning. Evann Dumont-LaPointe had a double with two outs and scored when Joncas hit a 2-0 count for an RBI single.

Colby took command in the sixth inning when Forese led off with a double and moved to third on a single by Hanson. Garcia followed with a home run to left field to push the margin to 5-1. Csaplar doubled with one out and came in to score when Ellenthal went all the way to second base on a Bowdoin error. After a pitching change, Andrew Della Volpe doubled to right field to plate Ellenthal with the seventh run. Della Volpe scored the final run of the inning when Forese reached on a second Bowdoin error.

The Mules blew it open in the seventh inning when Garcia led off with a single and Currier was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch moved both runners over and Csaplar followed with a sacrifice fly to to bring in Garcia. Ellenthal had his first double to bring Currier in for a 10-1 margin. Della Volpe walked and the Polar Bears made another pitching change. After the second out of the inning, Ryan Quinn reached on an error to score Ellenthal. Forese followed with his two-run triple to center field to make it 13-1.

Colby added one more run in the eighth inning thanks to another run by Garcia, who was hit by a pitch to start the inning. With two outs, Ellenthal doubled to score Garcia with the final Mule run.

Nick Sadler started the ninth inning off with a double to left field and Hansen followed with his homer to left for the final runs.

Colby 14, Bowdoin 3

Bowdoin   000#001#002—3#10#3

Colby       010#106#51x—14#13#3

Harry Ridge (L, 3-2), Connor Rooney (6), Max Vogel-Freedman (7), Richard Arms (7) and Colby Joncas. Brooks Parker (W, 1-1), Dan Csaplar (6), Andrew Sterup (9) and Andrew Della Volpe. 2B: Nick Sadler (B), Evann Dumont-laPointe (B), Chad Martin (B), Tommy Forese (C), Andrew Della Volpe (C), Zach Ellenthal (C) 2, Dan Csaplar (C). 3B: Tommy Forese (C). HR: Bjorn Hansen (B), Matt Garcia (C).