TROY, N.Y. - Thomas Neuman allowed only three hits in six innings and three teammates collected four hits apiece as the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) baseball team defeated Bates College 15-1 in the first game of a non-league doubleheader. The Bobcats won game 2 by a count of 14-5.

Neuman, a graduate student, was staked to a 4-0 lead after the first inning and he made it count by allowing no runs and just one walk with four strikeouts to earn the win. He was followed by three relievers, each of whom pitched one inning, combining to allow just two hits with four strikeouts. 

Offensively, leadoff hitter Aiden Hicks was 4 for 6 with two runs and two runs batted in, cleanup hitter Joey Saia was 4 for 5, including two doubles, with two runs and an RBI, and Ayush Krishnappa, the No. 7 hitter, went 4 for 5 with two runs and three RBI. Six others had at least one base hit for the Engineers, who finished with 21 base knocks that helped produce their 15 runs - both season-highs. 

In the four-run first inning, Hicks and George Rainer both had bunt singles to the third base side. After an out, Saia singled center to score Hicks, Julien Scarpa doubled to score two, and Aidan Safar singled. Krishnappa collected his first RBI with a groundout to shortstop that plated Scarpa.

RPI added a run in the third inning when Robbie Reddington singled home Scarpa. A single run in the fifth made it 6-0 and four more in the sixth put the difference at 10-0. The Engineers added three in the seventh and two in the eighth, while Bates scored its lone run in the top of the eighth.

Starter John Tully took the loss for the visitors, who got two hits from designated hitter John Nowak.

In the second game, the Bobcats knocked out 14 runs on 15 hits, highlighted by a 7-run second inning and a 5-run third. Nowak finished the first rally with a two-run double and then had an RBI on a hit-by-pitch in the third. He finished with two hits, two runs, and three RBI in three at bats.

Henry Jamieson was 4 for 5 with a run and an RBI and Brandon Biggane went 3 for 4 with a run and four runs batted in, including a ground rule double in the third. 

RPI, which scored three runs in its half of the second inning got three hits from Matt Chotiner. As a squad, the Engineers had seven knocks.

Ben Koomey took the loss, while Max Dio earned the win by throwing 3.2 innings of relief.