The Bates baseball team put together its best NESCAC East season in program history this year, finishing with a record of 9-3.
Last Saturday, we traveled to Brunswick to cover the Bobcats’ twin bill vs. Bowdoin. Needing one win to clinch a spot in the four-team, double elimination NESCAC tourney, Bates won both.
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Watch the Bobcats take on Williams at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 11, in the NESCAC Championships.
“You know everybody was locked in from the moment we woke up,” said sophomore Christian Beal of Flossmoor, Ill. “When this team needs a win, we find a way to win, and that’s special.”
Needing one win vs. Bowdoin last weekend to clinch a spot in the NESCAC tourney, Bates got two, and had some fun along the way:
Justin White ’19 of Whitesboro, N.Y., is a special story in his own right. When White was a first-year, he got cut from the team. He made the squad as a sophomore but didn’t record his first collegiate hit until mid-April last season.
Now, he’s one of the key reasons Bates’ offense is much-improved this season, ranking eighth in the NESCAC with a .536 slugging percentage in conference games.
“He’s an example for guys, anybody out there that’s really struggling with playing time and not getting in and not getting the results that you want, to stick with it and push through and work hard and it will eventually pan out,” said head coach Jon Martin.
White’s “crazy journey” to the starting lineup is just one of many story lines to watch this weekend at the NESCAC tournament in Waterville, Maine.
Cut from the team as a first-year, Justin White ’19 has come on strong:
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