No. 18/24 Baseball Sweeps Johnson & Wales, 6-5 and 7-0

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The No. 18/24 Endicott baseball team swept Johnson & Wales, 6-5 and 7-0, in Saturday afternoon's Conference of New England (CNE) twinbill from Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex.

GAME ONE: NO. 18/24 ENDICOTT 6, JOHNSON & WALES 5

WP (8-1): Ben Gill (Sanford, Maine) — 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
LP (1-2): Michael Cobb (Lincoln, Mass.) — 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
SV (4): Kyan Bagshaw (Amherst, N.H.) — 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

The Gulls erased a 3-0 deficit to claim game one from the Wildcats.

After being shut down over the course of the first six innings, the Gulls finally capitalized offensively in the top of the seventh.

Trevor Kamuda (Groveland, Mass.) crossed with the first run of the day for the Blue and Green courtesy of a Wildcats wild pitch.

Then, Paul Armstrong (Windham, N.H.) delivered the big hit the Gulls had been searching for with runners in scoring position, finding some grass in the opposite field to score two and tie the score at three apiece.

A sailed throw to first off of TJ Liponis' (Scarborough, Maine) chopper back to the mound and a clutch Brenden Walsh (Reading, Mass.) triple concluded the six-run explosion in the seventh, putting the Gulls in front 6-3.

Despite a late comeback attempt from the Wildcats, the Endicott bullpen was able to hang on and close out the game one victory by a 6-5 score, with Bagshaw doing the final honors (fourth save of the season).

GAME TWO: NO. 18/24 ENDICOTT 7, JOHNSON & WALES 0

WP (5-1): Matt Pappalardo (Pelham, N.H.) — 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
LP (2-4): Brett Nickerson (Medfield, Mass.) — 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

Similar to game one, it took the Endicott offense a few innings to fully get rolling.

However, James Benestad (Portsmouth, R.I.) got things started in style with his second homer of the year in the top of the fifth, hammering one over the left field fence.

The Gulls grabbed their second run of game two on a Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.) sac fly in the sixth, and then used a big seventh inning to pull away from the Wildcats.

Brady Rickenbach (Manchester, N.H.) led off with a double down the right field line, and was replaced with Anthony Lucibello (Orange, Conn.) as a pinch runner. Lucibello immediately scored from second thanks to Benestad's RBI bloop single into right, which made it 3-0 Gulls. 

Everything then went sideways after a Wildcats fielding error brought home two more Gulls runs, and a batter later, Liponis tacked on another for the visitors with his sac fly (6-0).

The final run came via an eigth inning pinch-hit bomb to left center off of Shea LaFleur's (Salem, N.H.) bat.

After Pappalardo's dominant start, the tandem of Colby Correia (Fairhaven, Mass.) and Jake Harmony (Fairfield, Conn.) brought Endicott to the finish line (1 IP eached) for the sweep.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott leads the all-time series, 15-2.
• First CNE in-conference meeting between the two programs. Prior to today, the last time they squared off was in the 2023 NCAA Regional round, when the Gulls won two straight (5/22/23; 10-4 and 7-1).
• Gill earned his eighth win of the season in game one, which ranks T-3rd in DIII.
• First career homer for LaFleur.
• Pappalardo's seven innings tied a career high.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 18/24 Endicott (26-7, 14-1 CNE) heads to Eastern Connecticut State on Monday for a 3:30 PM non-conference affair. Johnson & Wales (12-23, 4-11 CNE) heads to Roger Williams on Tuesday for a CNE matchup at 3:30 PM. 

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(Photo Credit - Jake Goodman '26)