Liam Foley was 3 for 5 with four RBI, and Bowdoin scored six runs in the ninth inning to clinch a 10-4 victory Sunday over Wesleyan as the Polar Bears won a best-of-three NESCAC baseball quarterfinals series in Middletown, Connecticut, and advanced to the four-team championship tournament.
Foley gave the Polar Bears (18-14) a 4-3 lead with a two-run single in the eighth, then capped the big ninth inning with another two-run single.
Ben McKenzie homered for Bowdoin, which joins Colby, Middlebury and Tufts in the double-elimination championship round that starts Friday in Waterville.
MAINE 9, UMBC 0: Gianni Gambardella and Tyler Nielsen combined on a five-hitter as the Black Bears (24-17, 14-4 America East) avoided a series sweep against the Retrievers (24-21, 13-8) in Orono.
The Black Bears led 1-0 until the sixth, when Jake Rainess hit a two-run single and Quinn McDaniel followed with a two-run homer.
USM LOSES TWICE: A two-run homer by Jason Komulainen in Game 2 of a doubleheader wasn’t enough to prevent Southern Maine (17-19) from ending its regular season with two losses to Salve Regina (33-6-1), as the Seahawks won 2-1 and 6-4 in Gorham.
USM, the No. 3 seed in the Little East Conference tournament, plays No. 4 seed UMass Boston on Wednesday in Providence, Rhode Island.
SOFTBALL
BATES SPLITS: Kama Boswell hit a go-ahead two-run single in the fourth inning as Bates (15-16-1, 7-11 NESCAC) earned a doubleheader split against Williams (19-15, 12-6) with a 4-3 victory in Lewiston.
Williams scored eight runs in the eighth inning to win the opener, 9-1.
Bates qualified for the NESCAC tournament as the No. 7 seed and will play No. 2 Amherst in the quarterfinals Friday at Medford, Massachusetts.
COLBY SWEEPS: Logan Luebbe hit a two-run homer in the opener and a three-run triple in the second game as the Mules (23-13, 10-8 NESCAC) ended their regular season with a doubleheader sweep against Wesleyan (13-25, 1-17), winning 2-0 and 7-2 in Waterville.
Colby finished fourth in the NESCAC regular-season standings and will play No. 5 Bowdoin in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
UNE LOSES TWICE: The Nor’easters (11-26, 8-11 Commonwealth Coast) finished their regular season with 4-3 and 3-1 losses to Roger Williams (13-26, 5-13) in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Becca Dumont doubled home UNE’s only run in Game 2 after going 2 for 3 with an RBI single in the opener.
MEN’S TENNIS
BOWDOIN 5, WILLIAMS 4: Tristan Bradley rallied to win the decisive singles match in three sets as the Polar Bears (17-4) advanced to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals with a win over the Ephs (15-5) in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Bowdoin also got singles victories from Pieter Breuker, Mark Kneiss and Evan Fortier. Bradley and Reid Staples won at No. 1 doubles.
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