MEDFORD, Mass. — A big inning for the Bates baseball team turned out to be too little, too early for the Bobcats, who let a lead slip and fell to Tufts 9-5 in their NESCAC opener Friday.

The Bobcats (8-5) took a 5-3 lead with a three-run top of the fifth. Drew Fallon smacked a solo home run, and Tyler Attal later drilled a two-run shot.

The Jumbos (8-5) answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame to tie the game. Jimmy Evans drove both runs in with a homer, as part of his two-hit, four-RBI output.

Tufts broke the tie with a four-run eighth. The runs scored on two singles, a passed ball and an error.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first, Noah Jankowski’s two-run double in the second knotted the game up. Henry Jamieson and Attal scored on the hit, with Jamieson reaching on the first of his three hits in the game.

Luke Linnehan lasted five innings on the mound for Bates and didn’t factor into the decision. The right-hander allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out two batters.

The Bobcats are scheduled to play a doubleheader at Tufts on Sunday before playing their home opener Wednesday against Thomas College.

UMAINE SWEEPS UML: Jeremiah Jenkins singled home Jake Rainess in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Maine to a 9-8 win over UMass Lowell for a baseball doubleheader sweep Friday in Orono.

Maine (11-11, 5-0 America East) won the opener, 9-3, with the help of a six-run second inning that included a two-run single by Quinn McDaniel and a two-run double by Jenkins. Colin Fitzgerald limited the River Hawks (4-19, 0-5) to four hits and one earned run in 6 1/3 innings.

In Game 2, Dylan McNary belted a three-run homer and Connor Goodman hit a three-run double as the Black Bears scored eight runs in the fourth inning for an 8-1 lead. Lowell rallied, though, and eventually tied the game in the seventh inning.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL
MAINE SPLITS: Kelby Drews hit a solo homer in the fourth inning and a walk-off RBI single in the eighth as Maine (8-21, 1-3 America East) took a 7-6 win in Game 1 of a doubleheader before getting no-hit by Albany (10-9, 1-1) in an 8-0 loss in Orono.

In the opener, Mariah Pearson singled home Jasmine Gray in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, and the Black Bears scored three runs in the eighth after giving up two runs in the top half. Grace McGouldrick led Maine with four hits, and Drews and Pearson each collected three hits.

Albany’s Kate Powers struck out three and walked two in a six-inning no-hitter in Game 2.