HOLYOKE, Mass. (April 10, 2024) – The Western New England baseball team grabbed a non-conference win on Wednesday afternoon, defeating the Blazers of Elms College 10-2.
John Bova went 4/5 at the dish, driving in four runs as the Golden Bears pounded out 11 hits in the win.
Records:
- Western New England: 10-10
- Elms College: 14-14
How it Happened:
An early start for the Golden Bears in the top of the first inning would quickly plate two runs to give the road team a 2-0 lead.
John Bova would single, followed by a
Cody Waterbury RBI triple, plating the first run of the inning.
Jack Loftus would double for the Golden Bears in the next at-bat of the contest, which scored
Waterbury, giving Western New England a 2-0 lead. WNE would hand the ball to
Todd Grammatico to start the contest. The sophomore would give up one run in the bottom of the first inning as the Blazers would quickly cut WNE's lead in half, though Elms would strand one runner on third base in the first.
The Golden Bears would not wait long to get their run back after two more extra base hits for the Golden Bears would plate an additional two runs in the game.
Ryan Montini led off the top of the second inning with a double, while
Trey Young's first at-bat of the game would be an RBI triple, scoring
Montini and giving WNE a 3-1 lead.
Jack Gamache would earn another RBI on the season by collecting a sacrifice fly to center field, plating another run for Western New England and giving the blue and gold a 4-1 lead. No runs would be scored again until the top of the fifth after
Grammatico found his grove and sat down the Blazers quickly in the third and fourth innings.
WNE would add two more runs in the top of the fifth after
Antonio Galizia collected an RBI single for the Golden Bears, which reloaded the bases.
Paul Villecco would record an RBI for Western New England on a bases loaded walk, giving WNE a 6-1 lead. The Blazers would come around with one run in the bottom of the fifth inning on another sacrifice fly, seeing the Golden Bears lead 6-2 after five innings of play.
The Golden Bears would see
John Bova expload for four RBIs in his final two at-bats of the game, grabbing a bases-clearing RBI triple in the top of the seventh after
Trey Young,
Antonio Galizia, and
Paul Villecco all reached ahead of the Golden Bears shortstop, who delivered a 9-2 lead in favor of Western New England.
Bova would add one more RBI to his resume in the top of the ninth inning to score Western New England's final run of the game, giving WNE a 10-2 victory. The Golden Bears would use
Alex Slezak,
Lucas Kamoen,
Aaron Cole, and
Robert Zawacki out of the bullpen on Wednesday afternoon, who combined to toss four innings, giving up one hit and one walk while striking out one and not allowing any runs to Elms.
Inside the Lines:
- John Bova's 4/5 outing at the dish included four RBIs for the Golden Bears, lifting Western New England past Elms on Wednesday.
- Cody Waterbury and Trey Young both collected two hits each, grabbing an RBI each as well.
- Todd Grammatico earned his first career collegiate victory, tossing the first five innings for the Golden Bears, giving up just four hits and two runs while walking three batters. The sophomore grabbed five outs via fly-outs and seven groundball outs.
- Western New England collected six extra base hits of their 11 in the game.
- The WNE defense turned three double plays in the win.
Up Next on the Schedule:
- The Golden Bears stay on the road to play two important conference games on Thursday, April 11 at 1:00 and 3:00 pm to take on Curry College.
