BEVERLY, Mass. (May 11, 2024) – The Western New England baseball team, who had brought their bats with them to Beverly in a big way over the last four games, could only put together four hits in the Commonwealth Coast Conference game on Saturday afternoon, seeing the top-seeded and top-ranked Gulls of Endicott College capture their third straight CCC Baseball title, defeating the Golden Bears 9-1.

Records:

• No. 5 Western New England: 24-20
• No. 1 Endicott College: 41-2

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears saw Paul Villecco send the first pitch of the championship game into the gap in left field, grabbing two bases and leading Western New England off with a double. A groundout from Ryan Montini would move Villecco over to third base with just one out. The Golden Bears would not be able to get anything moving after that, as Endicott's Nicholas Cannata would get John Bova and Cody Waterbury out to keep Western New England off the scoreboard. Matt Lauria would keep Endicott off the scoreboard with three strikeouts in the bottom of the first, making his second start in four days for Western New England.
Endicott would collect the game's first run, coming on a Brenden Walsh home run to left field, giving the Gulls the early 1-0 lead. The bats for the Golden Bears would struggle through the middle innings as Cannata would find his groove, while Western New England would not be able to get the righty starter for Endicott out of the groove. Brendan O'Neil would give the Gulls a 2-0 lead to start the bottom of the fourth inning, collecting Endicott's second home run of the game. EC took a two-run lead after four innings of play.

Trey Young would collect Western New England's first hit in the top of the fifth since the Villecco double in the first, grabbing an infield single to begin the inning. The Golden Bears would not be able to get anything more in the inning as the Gulls would get a double play and a fly out to quick-end the frame on just eight pitches. The Gulls would put two runners on base in the bottom of the fifth with two outs, while Brendan O'Neil would step to the plate and rip his second home run of the day, this time coming off Tyler Curtis, giving the Gulls a 5-0 lead.

Endicott would break the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth, coming away with four hits in the inning, two of which came with RBIs, as Endicott's AJ Hamm and Dylan Pacheco would single to produce three runs for the Gulls, who took an 8-1 lead after six innings of play. WNE would record just two hits through eight
innings of play, as Endicott would lead 9-0 heading into the final inning of play.

Western New England would grab their only run of the game in the top of the ninth as John Bova collected his first hit of the afternoon on a hard hit single up the middle of the diamond, while Cody Waterbury would score the junior shortstop on a single up the middle of his own, giving WNE a run. The Gulls would bear down and record the final out of the game, defeating the Golden Bears 9-1 and winning their third straight CCC title.

Inside the Lines:

• After relying heavily on their offense over the last four elimination games, Western New England would not be able to break Endicott's starter, who went the distance to capture the CCC title.
• Matt Lauria suffered the loss for Western New England, giving up three hits and two earned runs while walking three and striking out three.
• WNE used Tyler Curtis, Alex Slezak, Andrew Melone, and Canon Marshall out of the bullpen in the game.
• No Golden Bears recorded more than one hit as Paul Villecco, John Bova, Cody Waterbury, and Trey Young all picked up hits in the loss.
• WNE and Endicott battled for the CCC Championship back in 2022, with Endicott coming away with the win.
• Endicott hit three home runs and five total extra-base hits in the win.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE sees its season come to an end with a historic run in the CCC tournament as the fifth seed. WNE wraps up the season with a 24-20 record.