Waterville, Maine - Sophomore Matt Koperniak (Adams, Mass.) went 5-for-5 and hit for the cycle to lift the Trinity College Bantams to a 12-2 win over the Colby College Mules College in New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division baseball action Friday afternoon.  The Bantams improve to 10-10 overall and 5-2 NESCAC East, while the Mules fall to 4-13 overall and 1-3 in the division.  The teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow at noon to close out the three-game series.

Koperniak had a home run, triple, a double, and two singles. He drove in three runs, scored four times, and stole two bases.  Trinity junior Tyler Buckley (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) added two hits, two runs, and drove in two runs, while senior 2B Cooper Mooney (Southbury, Conn.) doubled twice, drove in a pair of runs, and scored once for the Bantams. Senior captain Christian Orsini (Livingston, N.J.) also had two hits, two RBI, and one run, while classmates Brendan Pierce (Hingham, Mass.) and Ryan Vultaggio (Groton, Mass.) both had two hits and scored a run.  Trinity junior southpaw Erik Mohl (Milton, Mass.) worked 6.1 innings to earn the victory, striking out four and walking none. Sophomore righty Andrew DeRoche (North Reading, Mass.) went 1.2 innings and classmate Colby Fortin (Bow, N.H.) worked the ninth from the left side.  Neither pitcher allowing a run.  Matt Garcia hit a two-run home run for the Mules in the bottom of the seventh inning for Colby.  Jackson Ward doubled among his two hits and Keenan Iuliano also had two hits for the Mules.

The Bantams scored three runs in the top of the first to take control. Sophomore C Alex Rodriguez (South Windsor, Conn.) had a bases loaded walk and Orsini had a two-run double to right field to bring in Mooney and Koperniak.  Trinity scored lone runs in the third and fourth inning. Vultaggio had a triple to right center to bring in junior Carter Snyder (Lemont, Ill.) in the third, while Mooney's double to right plated Koperniak with the fifth run.  The Bantams scored five times in the top of the seventh inning. Buckley smacked a two-run single, Koperniak had a two-run double, and Mooney added an RBI double.  After Colby's Will Phillips singled with one out in the seventh, Garcia hit his home run to left center to make it a 10-2 game.  Junior Geoff Stillman (Scituate, Mass.) had an RBI single in the eighth inning for Trinity's 11th run. Koperniak, needing a home run for the cycle, smacked a long ball to right center in the ninth inning.