Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WENHAM, Mass. (April 11, 2025) – The Western New England baseball team, led by Jared Kuryan in game one and Matt Lauria in game two, helped the Golden Bears come away with two huge Conference of New England victories on Friday afternoon over Gordon College, picking up 15-1 and 2-1 victories. The two WNE starters were the only two to throw for the Golden Bears in the game which helped provide two big victories. 

Records:

• Western New England: 15-11, 3-5 CNE
• Gordon College: 14-13, 4-4 CNE

How it Happened: (Game 1):

Looking to get rid of their four-game losing streak in conference play and coming off a dramatic non-conference win over Wheaton College on Thursday afternoon, the Golden Bears struck first against the Fighting Scots, who also came up with a dramatic finish in their Thursday non-conference game against Anna Maria College. Canon Marshall would be issued a walk to start the game and would advance on a wild pitch. John Bova would return to the Western New England lineup and delivered a single to left center field to move Marshall to third with no outs. Ryan Montini picked up the RBI on a sacrifice fly for the Golden Bears that gave the visitors a 1-0 lead. Western New England picked up just the lone run in the inning, leaving two on base overall. Jared Kuryan made the game-one start for the Golden Bears. Kuryan has had much success over the Fighting Scots in his career, including a shutout victory last season at Trelease Park. Kuryan gave up just one hit to the Scots in the first inning overall. 

The Golden Bears would threaten in the top of the second for more runs but would leave two men aboard after Jack Gamache would single and steal two bases while Marshall would be walked again but the blue and gold could not capitalize on their chance. Gordon opened the bottom of the second with a single through the left side of the diamond, but Kuryan settled in, getting a pick-off and two fly ball outs to get out of the inning. Western New England scored their second and third runs of the game in the top of the third of the seven-inning game as Andrew Florek delivered an RBI single to right field. Ryan Montini would score after walking and stealing a base and advancing to third on a Leo Paragarino single. Antonio Galizia would deliver a groundball out to score Paragarino, giving Western New England a 3-0 lead. The Fighting Scots had nothing to show in the bottom of the third, keeping WNE's lead at three after three. 

Western New England doubled their lead in the fourth inning to take a commanding hold on the conference game. After Canon Marshall opened the inning with a single, John Bova would smack his second home run of the season and first in nearly 30 days, a two run shot, giving the Golden Bears a 5-0 lead. WNE was not done scoring in the inning after Jack Loftus reached on a Gordon error, the senior would steal a base and then reach home on a fielding error by the Fighting Scots catcher, giving the Golden Bears a 6-0 lead. The Fighting Scots would get one run back in the bottom of the fourth after CJ Demers picked up a double to begin the inning while Tyler Wilson delivered an RBI single, putting the Scots on the board, still trailing WNE 6-1. The Golden Bears broke the game wide open in the top of the fifth, bringing 12 batters to the plate and coming up with a 12-1 lead following the inning. Jack Loftus would connect on a two-RBI single to center field, Ryan Montini, Andrew Florek, and Antonio Galizia took RBI walks and Leo Paragarino picked up a run on a passed ball that brought the Golden Bears ahead by a big margin. Jared Kuryan continued to deal while Western New England added three more runs in the seventh to salt the game away with Galizia coming up with a two-RBI double and Tyler Kornacki scored on a passed ball, giving WNE a 15-1 lead. The Golden Bears would shut down the Fighting Scots in the bottom of the seventh, coming away with a key conference victory by a wide margin, 15-1. 

Inside The Lines:

• Western New England would score 15 runs on ten hits overall while collecting 12 RBIs in the game. John Bova came away with two hits, the lone Golden Bear to do so, including a home run and two RBIs. 
• Antonio Galizia had four RBIs in the game while Bova, Jack Loftus, Andrew Florek, and Ryan Montini picked up two each. 
• Jared Kuryan went the full seven innings, giving up just six hits and a run without walking a batter and striking out five total.

How it Happened (Game 2):

The Golden Bears rolled out nearly the same nine with Matt Lauria taking the bump for the blue and gold in game two. John Bova began the second game with a double for the blue and gold while Jack Loftus would be walked with two outs, but the two runners would be stranded on base. Lauria would get the first three hitters in the Gordon lineup in order. The Golden Bears would get their second straight double with one out in the inning, this time in the second, but could not score Connor Cowern, who was stranded on second. Gordon would make the Golden Bears pay for leaving three runners on base, coming up with their first hit in the bottom of the second when Evan Clark launched his first home run of the season to give the Scots a 1-0 lead. 

The Golden Bears would get two on base with one out in the fourth after Leo Paragarino walked, followed by a Greg Nivison single to left field. Paragarino would reach third base on a groundout from Cowern but WNE would strand two more on base in the inning, getting their last out on a flyout. Western New England would be saved by their ace on the mound, who had allowed just the one hit to Gordon through the first four innings of work. Western New England would make some noise in the sixth inning as yesterday's walk-off hero Corey Kilroy would pinch hit and be plunked with a pitch, followed by a fielding error by the Scots on Nivison's at-bat and a walk issued to Cowern, filling the bases with one out. WNE would strike out in their next at-bat, but Jack Gamache would also be hit by a pitch with the bases full, scoring WNE's first run to tie the game at one. Western New England would leave three more runners on base, however, totaling nine through six innings of play. Matt Lauria would breeze through the Gordon batters in the sixth, picking up three strikeouts, coming up with eight total through six innings. 

In the seventh, John Bova would lead off with a single and quickly move to second on a passed ball. Following, Jack Loftus would reach on a single through the left side of the diamond, moving Bova to third with still one out. Corey Kilroy would then come up with a deep fly ball to left field, deep enough to score Bova from third, giving the Golden Bears a 2-1 lead. Needing the final three outs of the inning, the Golden Bears would turn to Lauria and look for their two starters on the day to go the full seven innings without having to use the bullpen. Lauria would get a groundball out to begin the seventh but a single from Hunter Normandin would be just the second hit of the game for the Scots overall, putting the tying run on base and the winning run at the dish. Robert Dunkie would be the next to the plate for the Fighting Scots and Lauria would register his ninth strikeout of the game as Dunkie would go down looking, leaving the game in the hands of Evan Clark, who already has a solo home run in the game, the only other Gordon hit. Clark would receive four straight balls from Lauria, as the WNE righty issued his first walk of the game. The lineup would turn over to Jacob Blake for Gordon, who was 0/2 with a groundout and flyout for the Fighting Scots in the game thus far.  Lauria would dial up three straight strikes and got Blake swinging for his tenth strikeout of the game, winning the game for Western New England by a final score of 2-1. 

Inside the Lines:

• Matt Lauria was the star of the second game, going the full seven innings, giving up just two hits and one run while walking one and striking out ten. 
• Late-inning heroics would give Western New England the win after being down 1-0 from the second inning on until the sixth when Jack Gamache was hit by a pitch to tie the game at one. 
• Corey Kilroy's sacrifice fly RBI in the seventh would win Western New England the game. Kilroy earns the game-winning RBI for the second straight day for WNE. 
• John Bova collected another two hits for WNE in the game. 
• Gordon pounded out eight total hits over 16 innings of play in the two games. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• An important Conference of New England game looms on Tuesday, April 15 at 3:30 PM from Trelease Park as the Golden Bears look to get their revenge on the University of Hartford.