COCOA BEACH, Fla. – The Nichols College baseball team jumped out to a five-run lead but was edged, 6-5, by Medaille in the season opener in Cocoa Beach, Fla., Monday afternoon. Austin Martin (Wakefield, R.I.) led the Bison bats, going 2-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and a pair of runs scored.

The Bison picked up three runs in the bottom of the first in a two-out rally, led off by a single from Al Montalto (Wilmington, Mass.). He stole second and crossed the plate on a Martin single. Cale LaCasse (Killingly, Conn.) singled to move Martin ahead to third, and after LaCasse stole second, a pair of walks scored Martin and LaCasse, who finished 2-for-4 on the day, came across on a wild pitch for the 3-0 lead.

Nichols added two more in the bottom of the second on RBI singles from Joshua Clark (Brunswick, Maine) and Martin for a 5-0 lead, but a big five-run third inning brought the Mavericks right back into the game.

Medaille batted around and racked up four hits, including a pair of RBI doubles, capitalizing on two Nichols errors to even up the score in the third. In the sixth, Erik Skibinski led off the frame with a single to left and then stole second before crossing the plate with the winning run on an Alex Dusenberry single to right.

Tom Bozek (Westfield, Mass.) shouldered the loss in six innings of work, allowing six runs (four earned) on seven hits while striking out five. Scott Leecock (Palmer, Mass.) retired six of seven batters in the seventh and eighth innings, allowing one hit before Tim Smith (Plainfield, Conn.) came in to close, striking out one in the ninth.

For the Mavericks, Brian Vital struck out four and allowed five runs on nine hits in six innings, while Pat Manusco picked up the save, allowing just one hit while striking out two over the final three innings.

Nichols continues its Florida trip on Tuesday in a 7 p.m. game against Franciscan. 

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