BEVERLY, Mass. — The No. 1 nationally ranked and first-seeded Endicott baseball team defeated fifth-seeded Western New England, 9-1, on Saturday afternoon at North Field to claim its third consecutive Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship.
WP (5-1): Nicholas Cannata (Marlborough, Conn.) — 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
LP (1-3): Matt Lauria (East Haddam, Conn.) — 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Scoreless in the bottom of the second inning, Brenden Walsh (Reading, Mass.) gave the Gulls a 1-0 lead with a solo blast to deep left field, which was the second of his career and first at North Field.
Brendan O'Neil (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) singlehandedly provided four insurance runs for the Gulls, as he cranked home runs to right field in the fourth (solo shot) and fifth innings (three-run shot) to put the Gulls up comfortably, 5-0.
AJ Hamm (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Dylan Pacheco (Dartmouth, Mass.) each logged RBI singles in the sixth inning, and Joey Frammartino (North Reading, Mass.) plated James Benestad (Northborough, Mass.) with an RBI ground out in the eighth to make it 9-0 Gulls.
Cannata was masterful on the hill for the Blue and Green. The CCC's ERA leader went the distance and didn't allow an earned run in the contest, fanning six Golden Bears along the way. He induced a fly ball to Frammartino in left field to finalize the historic win for the nation's top-ranked team.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- This is the ninth CCC Championship and first three-peat in Endicott baseball program history.
- O'Neil's multi-home run game gives him 14 on the season, which is the most in the CCC.
- Walsh tied a career-high with three hits on the afternoon (home run, bunt single, base hit to left field).
- Cannata tossed his third career complete game (4/30/22 at Wentworth; 4/16/22 at Nichols). The senior right-hander features a 1.61 ERA on the season (best in CCC, 10th in NCAA) and a career ERA of 2.85 (sixth in program history).
- Hamm's RBI base-knock in the sixth extended his on-base streak to 13 games.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 1 Endicott (41-2) advances to the NCAA Regional Tournament, which begins next weekend. Western New England (24-20) hopes to receive an at-large bid to the tournament. The selection show will be held at 12 PM on Monday, May 13 and can be viewed on NCAA.com.
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(Photo Credit - Kaeli Talora '25)
