Three consecutive hits by Tufts University baseball opened the early lead at Leahey Field. It was the kind of string of hits that Bates couldn’t produce in its home opener, ending its brief winning streak. The Bobcats played from behind but couldn’t catch the Jumbo’s in an 8-2 loss.

“We didn’t have great at-bats today,” said Bates coach Mike Leonard. “That’s what it came down to. They gave us some opportunities. Their pitchers were behind a lot. They had a lot of walks. We just didn’t execute offensively.”

Bates (11-5) scored 20 runs in a win over Husson on Tuesday. It was the third straight for the Bobcats, but Friday, Bates scattered just five hits and left 11 runners on base.

“We’ve taken advantage of mistakes better than we did today,” said Leonard of his team’s solid start. “When teams have given us opportunities, we’ve done a great job of capitalizing. We just didn’t do that today. We had runners on base in the second through fifth inning and didn’t capitalize. “

Bates left six runners on through the first four innings, including two in the third and the bases loaded in the fifth.

Tufts starter Dave Ryan (3-0) allowed just three hits and one run with six innings of work.

“He struggled throwing offspeed pitches for strikes,” said Tufts coach John Casey. “He figured it out for the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.”

Bates starter Michael Spinosa (2-1) scattered six hits before giving up the fourth run in the seventh.  Three of those hits came in the third with two outs, breaking the 0-0 stalemate with three runs.

“We’ve been doing that all year,” said Casey. “We’ve been fortunate to be scoring runs in bunches. We did a good job of that. They’re a good team. They hung in there. It really was a 3-1 game until the seventh. It could have gone either way.”

Nate Izzo drove in three runs for Tufts (8-3) with two hits. James Hower had three hits and an RBI while Eric Weikert drove in a pair with two hits.

Steve Burke led Bates with two hits and an RBI. Ryan Sonberg drove in the other run.

Tufts’ runs in the third came when Sam Sager doubled with one out. After Spinosa got a flyball out, Weikert followed with a double. Wade Hauser doubled him in and James Howard singled in the third run.

Bates got runners on in the bottom of the inning when Jeff Clausen and Mekae Hyde each drew walks, but Ryan got a ground ball out to end the inning. In the fourth, Kevin McGregor walked with one out. After a flyout, Burke singled and Clausen loaded the bases. Another flyout ended the inning with the bases full.

“(Ryan) made some big pitches,” said Casey. “He’s a senior, and he’s supposed to do that. He did a good job and made a lot of big pitches.”

Bates got one back in the sixth when Sonberg had a sacrifice bunt that plated Nate Pajka. That was the only run for the Bobcats after getting the two lead batters on.

Tufts countered that in the seventh with three more runs.  Weikert singled in a run that ended Spinosa’s day. Hauser had a sacrifice fly that made it 5-1. Then an Izzo RBI single made it 6-1.

Bates got a Burke RBI double in the eighth. Tufts added a two-run homer from Izzo in the ninth.

“We’re a good team overall,” said Leonard, whose club hosts Tufts in a doubleheader Saturday starting at noon. “We’ve just got to be able to play that way for a full nine innings. At the end, if they out-pitch you and out-hit you, they’re going to win. Hopefully, we’ll have our A-game (Saturday).”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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