BEVERLY, Mass. — The No. 4/6 nationally ranked Endicott baseball team swept Western New England, 6-1 and 7-2 (10 inn.), in Saturday afternoon's Conference of New England (CNE) doubleheader at North Field.
Originally scheduled to be played on Saturday in Springfield, the teams shifted the doubleheader to North Field after the inclement weather throughout this weekend.
GAME ONE: NO. 4/6 ENDICOTT 6, WNE 1
WP (6-1): Charlie Hale (Brookline, N.H.) — 6.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
LP (1-2): Jared Kuryan (Madison, Conn.) — 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
SV (2): Chris Jenkins (Mansfield, Mass.) — 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
The Gulls got runs in the first (two), sixth (one), seventh (two), and eighth (one) innings to top the Golden Bears in game one.
The first-inning runs came across thanks to some crafty baserunning from Zach Stephenson (Mansfield, Mass.), Danny MacDougall (Taunton, Mass.) and AJ Hamm (Shrewsbury, Mass.).
After the Golden Bears cut the Blue and Green's lead to 2-1 with an RBI double in the third, Endicott responded with an insurance run in the sixth with a sac fly from Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.).
Then, in the seventh, Robbie Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) cranked a two-run shot for his third home run of the season to deep left field, padding the lead a little further (5-1).
Bernardo followed suit in the eighth with a solo homer to left center, piling on the Golden Bears.
Hale was dominant in his six innings of work, fanning eight and stranding several baserunners along the way.
Jenkins took over for him in the seventh, and much like last Wednesday, he was able to slam the door shut and earn his second save of the season after his three scoreless innings.
GAME TWO: NO. 4/6 ENDICOTT 7, WNE 2 (10 INN.)
WP (1-0): Ben Gill (Sanford, Maine) — 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
LP (1-2): Tanner Wall (Brookfield, Conn.) — 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
The Gulls took a 2-0 lead with runs in the top of the first and second innings, but the Golden Bears scratched two across in the bottom of the second to knot things up.
Both bullpens dominated from that point on, dealing seven scoreless innings over the following seven frames and sending the game into extras.
In the top of the 10th, the Gulls scrapped together a big rally. Kyle Grabowski (Westfield, Mass.) led things off with an infield single, and eventually came around to score on John Mulready's (Peabody, Mass.) go-ahead single later in the frame.
A few batters later, Stephenson broke the game wide open with an opposite field grand slam to left field, putting the Blue and Green up 7-2 in the 10th.
Grady Vanidestine (Brewer, Maine) came on to close things out, and struck out the side to finalize the sweep.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott improves to 33-24 all-time against WNE.
- Stephenson and Bernardo lead the squad with five homeruns each.
- The bullpen dealt seven scoreless innings in game two and three scoreless in game one.
- Stephenson logged a career-high four hits in game two.
- His five RBI in the contest were also a career-high.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 4/6 Endicott (18-3, 6-0 CNE) welcomes Johnson and Wales tomorrow for a 3:30 PM contest. WNE (12-10, 1-4 CNE) heads to Nichols on Tuesday for a 3:30 PM CNE matchup with the Bison.
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(Photo Credit - Mazzie Hinsdale '25)
