NORTHBORO, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College baseball team opened its season with a pair of seven-inning losses to Bowdoin College, 7-0 and 8-0, on Tuesday at the New England Baseball Complex. The first-ever meetings between the programs were also the initial games of Jim Neidlinger's head coaching career.

RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (0-2), Bowdoin (4-1)

GAME 1
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Sophomore Sebastian Oetterer (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips), 1-for-3, 2B
• Junior Julien Giroux-Harvey (Montreal, Québec/Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf), 1-for-3
• Sophomore John Luke Cianciolo (Guilford, Conn./Guilford/New Haven), BB
• First-year Ulysses Luciano (Bronx, N.Y./Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy), BB
• Junior Cameron Cuellar (Seminole, Fla./Seminole), 4 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, loss
• Sophomore Sean Birch (Mansfield, Mass./Xaverian Brothers), 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K in relief

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Senior Eric Mah, 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 2B
• Junior Brendan O'Neil, 2-for-2, R, 2 RBI, BB
• Sophomore Chris Attisani, 1-for-3, R, 3 RBI, HR
• First-year Jack Mullen, 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, win
• Senior James Speer, 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

GAME FACTS

• After 23 career outings from the bullpen, Cuellar made his first collegiate start.
• The teams played for the first time.
• The Purple Knights' Jim Neidlinger made his debut as a college head coach.

THE ACTION

• The Polar Bears scored five one-out runs on four hits in the bottom half of the first inning, with O'Neil's double plating the first two and Attisani capping the damage with a three-run home run.
• Giroux-Harvey led off the top of the second with a single before being erased on a double play, and junior James McCarthy added to the Bowdoin lead with an RBI single in the home half.
• Sophomore Gavin Cann scored a two-out unearned run in the fifth.
• Birch stranded two Polar Bears in scoring position in the sixth before Oetterer doubled with one down in the seventh but was left there to end the game.

GAME 2
SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Cianciolo, 1-for-2, 2B
• First-year Brady Perron (Barton, Vt./Lake Region Union), 1-for-2
• First-year Nathan Smith (Wildwood, Mo./Vermont Academy), 1-for-2
• First-year Anthony Santosuosso (Arlington, Mass./Vermont Academy), 1-for-3, 2B
• Junior Anthony Azpeitia (Tampa, Fla./King), 1-for-3
• Junior Alex Mendez (Fallon, Nev./Churchill County), 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, loss
• Sophomore Ian McNamara (Northampton, Mass./Northampton), 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K in relief
• Junior Dan Favicchio (Massapequa, N.Y./Saint John the Baptist Diocesan), 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K in relief

OPPONENT LEADERS

• O'Neil, 2-for-2, 3 R, RBI, 2B, BB
• Cann, 2-for-3, R, RBI
• Sophomore Nick Merrill, 1-for-3, R, 3 RBI, HR
• Junior Matt Nakamoto, 1-for-3, R, RBI, HR
• Junior Dan Chapski, 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, win

GAME FACTS

• Perron picked up his first college hit while junior Shane Epps (Queens, N.Y./Saint Francis Prep/Mercy) walked, each doing so in their first college plate appearances. Cianciolo, Santosuosso and Smith also rapped their first hits, and McNamara made his debut in his first season of college ball. A transfer from the University of New Haven, Cianciolo played in one game as a first-year and did not bat in college until today.

THE ACTION

• O'Neil knocked an RBI double before Cann's RBI single made it 2-0 in favor of Bowdoin in the bottom of the first inning.
• Perron singled into center field with one down in the third on the first pitch he saw as a collegian, but a double play ended the threat.
• Two more runs came home in the third, with a run-scoring wild pitch and first-year Bobby Pearl's RBI double keying the frame.
• Nakamoto's solo home run in the fourth and Merrill's three-run blast in the fifth account for Bowdoin's final four runs.
• Epps grinded out a seven-pitch walk during his first college plate appearance to lead off the seventh before moving to third on Santosuosso's first knock, a double to right field. The final Purple Knight grounded out.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Sunday vs. Manchester (Ind.) University, 9 a.m. doubleheader in Fort Myers, Fla.