WINTERHAVEN, Fla. — The No. 2/5 nationally ranked Endicott baseball team overcame a late two-run deficit to defeat No. 3/6 Johns Hopkins, 4-3, in its Spring Break week opener on Saturday morning.
WP (1-0): Evan Scully (Maynard, Mass.) — 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
LP (0-1): Ryan Anderson (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) — 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
In a rematch of last year's Beverly Super Regional matchup, it was the Gulls who once again bested the Blue Jays in a tight, come-from-behind win on Saturday morning.
AJ Hamm (Shrewsbury, Mass.) broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third with his first homerun of the season. He caught the windstream out to right field, which then carried his opposite field fly ball over the fence to put the Gulls on top early.
Brady Stuart (Hudson, Mass.) stymied the Blue Jays' bats through 5.2 scoreless innings. He fanned seven, and ended each of the first five innings on swinging strikeouts.
After Hopkins' Alex Shane (Los Angeles, Calif.) reached base with two outs in the sixth, Kyan Bagshaw (Amherst, N.H.) entered and induced a popout to Hamm at second on the first pitch, ending the Blue Jays' threat.
The Gulls were unable to add on in the bottom of the sixth, and the Blue Jays capitalized in the top half of the seventh. Second baseman Jimmy Stevens (New Albany, Ohio) led off the frame with a solo shot to right, knotting up the score at one a side.
Later in the inning, the Blue Jays took the lead on a popup that got caught up in the wind and crossed up Hamm in shallow right field, scoring two for the Jays and giving them a 3-1 advantage in the seventh.
The Gulls responded right away in the bottom of the seventh. Designated hitter Kyle Grabowski (Westfield, Mass.) got all of a 2-0 fastball and mashed it over the right field wall for his second round-tripper of the year.
Two batters later, first baseman Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.) stepped up to the plate and crushed his first career home run out to right center, evening the score at three.
Johns Hopkins escaped the inning with the score tied, but after Scully stranded a runner in scoring position in the top of the eighth, the Blue and Green kept the pressure on in the bottom half. Danny MacDougall (Taunton, Mass.) started the rally with a line drive single into center, and then took second on a delayed steal with Joey Frammartino (North Reading, Mass.) up to bat.
Frammartino then grounded one past the mound that took a fortunate Gulls bounce off the second base bag, advancing MacDougall to third and putting the Gulls' right fielder safely aboard at first.
After Robbie Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) reached on a hit-by-pitch to load up the bases with just one out, Grabowski strolled up to bat, looking to put the Gulls back in front. He delivered, as he sent a hard one-hopper over to first. The Blue Jays' first baseman made a sprawling stop, but was unable to make a clean throw towards home to get MacDougall at the plate, and the Gulls pulled ahead, 4-3.
The Jays avoided any further damage, and the contest headed to the top of the ninth, where Scully looked to close things out. The junior right-hander did not disappoint, as he retired the Blue Jays 1-2-3 (foul popout, groundout to short, lineout to short) to wrap a bow on the ranked win for Endicott.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott leads the all-time series, 4-0. The two teams had never faced each other until last spring, and have since met up four times, including in a best-of-three Super Regionals matchup last May (Gulls took the series, 2-0, to advance to the College World Series).
- The three runs for the Blue Jays are a season-low. It is their lowest run total since 5/25/24, when the Gulls eliminated them in the Super Regionals (5-2 win for Endicott).
- The Gulls have now one seven in a row after dropping the season-opener against LaGrange on February 22.
- MacDougall extended his hitting streak to seven with his eighth-inning single.
- The three homers for the Gulls are a season-high.
- Hamm went yard for the first time since 5/4/24 against Wentworth.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 2/5 Endicott (7-1) continues its Spring Break in the RussMatt Tournament with an 11:15 AM matchup with Amherst tomorrow morning, 3/16. No. 3/6 Johns Hopkins (11-1) takes on Rutgers-Camden on Monday, 3/17 at 10 AM.
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(Photo Credit - Jake Goodman '26)
