NEW LONDON, N.H. -- The Colby-Sawyer College baseball team secured a playoff spot in the North Atlantic Conference tournament after a pair of wins over the University of Maine at Farmington on Thursday afternoon. The Chargers won the first game 3-1 and took the second game 5-1.

The Chargers improve to 17-15 overall and 12-8 in NAC play, while the Beavers fall to 8-19 overall and 7-15 in the conference.  

Colby-Sawyer will complete the NAC portion of the schedule this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at Thomas. UMaine-Farmington travels to Lyndon on Sunday for a NAC twin bill.

GAME ONE – Colby-Sawyer 3, UMF 1

Colby-Sawyer scored all three of its runs in the first inning. Junior Andy Lapple came around to score the Chargers' first run on a double steal.

Junior Vinny Monahan then singled home senior Cameron Knight, and Jeff Dunn hit a run-scoring double to right field to plate Monahan with Colby-Sawyer's third run.

The Beavers got on the board in the top of the sixth on a RBI single from freshman Tom Grady (Whitefield, Maine/Erskine Academy).

Colby-Sawyer pitcher Kevin Keith came into close the game out in the top of the seventh. After a leadoff single by senior Brian Jenkins (Gorham, Maine/Gorham), Keith struck out the next two batters and got a pop out to earn his school record fifth career save.

Mike Bowse earned his second win of the season after tossing four innings of relief.

Senior Casey Ashey (Searsport, Maine/Searsport) took the loss in six innings of work.  

GAME TWO – Colby-Sawyer 5, UMF 1

Vinny Monahan scored on an error by the UMF catcher in the bottom of the second to give Colby-Sawyer a 1-0 lead.

Colby-Sawyer added a second run in the third on a RBI single from senior Tyler Stotz.

The Chargers increased the lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. Cody Pelletier squeezed the first run home, which scored Monahan. Kyle Greenwood followed with a run scoring double to center field. Alex Fredette then knocked in Greenwood with a single to center.

UMF got one run back in the top of the fifth when Grady scored on a double play.

Alex Drost threw his third complete game of the season. He gave up no earned runs on four hits and struck out four.

Sophomore Joe Sullivan (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) surrendered four earned runs in four innings to take the loss.

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