Baseball 3/9/2026 4:42:00 PM

Schermerhorn Goes For Five RBIs To Lead WNE Past Mount St. Joseph In Game Two Monday Afternoon

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DAVENPORT, Fla. (March 9, 2026) – The Western New England baseball team split its second day of games on Monday at the RussMatt Invitational, falling in the morning contest against Benedictine University, 7-0, before bouncing back with a 9-4 win over the Lions of Mount St. Joseph University where Noah Schermerhorn launched a grand slam and finished the afternoon with five RBIs to lead WNE to victory.

Records:

Western New England: 2-3
Benedictine University: 3-4
Mount St. Joseph University: 2-5

How It Happened:

Third Inning:

Neither team could strike in the opening two frames as Greg Nivison for Western New England and Braden Behrens for Benedictine were able to get out of jams early. The Eagles were able to strike first in the bottom of the third inning after opening with a single to get a runner aboard early. After back-to-back strikeouts from Nivison, the Eagles took advantage of a miscue in the field by Western New England, scoring the first run of the game, and followed that up with an RBI single to center field from Spencer Geake, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Both runs for Benedictine went down unearned to Nivison.

Fourth Inning:

Corey Kilroy walked to open the fourth inning for the Golden Bears, while Leo Paragarino singled to right field to move Kilroy over to third with just one out in the inning. The Golden Bears could not string together anything further, however, as Behrens got a flyout and groundout to end the inning unscathed.
Benedictine broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning with four runs. A leadoff single from Preston Popovich, followed by a double by Hank Friedrich, put runners on second and third with just one out in the frame as the Eagles threatened and made WNE pay. A two-RBI single from Jack Ryan put Benedictine ahead 4-0. Two more singles for the Eagles, one from Nic Castrovillari and another from Geake saw Benedictine jump out in front 6-0, while a wild pitch gave the Eagles a commanding 7-0 lead after four innings of play.

Fifth Inning:

Western New England went down in order in the top of the fifth, while Benedictine put three runners on base against Gabe Baber, who escaped the jam with a flyout to end the inning, keeping the score where it is.

Seventh Inning:

Connor Cowern was issued a walk after ten pitch at-bat, and Tyler Kornacki followed with an infield single, but a double play was turned by the Eagles' defense to get out of the seventh without giving up a run.
Jaret Sarrantonio did not give up any hits in his collegiate debut on the hill, keeping the Eagles at bay in the seventh.

Eighth Inning:

Jack Gamache picked up a single with one out in the top of the inning, but the third double play of the game turned by the Benedictine defense quickly ended any threat Western New England had.
Ryan Makowski delivered a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth in his collegiate debut.

Ninth Inning:

Western New England couldn't get anything rolling in the ninth and were shut out in the opening game of the day, falling 7-0.

Inside the Lines:

The Golden Bears had just five hits in the game overall and left four runners on base.
Greg Nivison went the first four innings, giving up eight hits and five runs, three earned, while striking out five. Gabe Baber, Tyler Curtis, Jaret Sarrantonio, and Ryan Makowski finished off the game without allowing any runs out of the bullpen.
WNE falls to Benedictine for the second straight season in Davenport.

How it Happened (vs. Mount St. Joseph University)

First Inning:

The Golden Bears, the road team, went down in order in the top of the inning while the Mount St. Joseph Lions got on the board first with a leadoff single off Connor Flynn while MSJ's Will Record picked up an infield single to score a run to give the Lions a 1-0 lead.

Second Inning:

The Golden Bears punched back in a big way in the top of the second inning after three walks in the inning cost MSJ, who saw Corey Kilroy, Leo Paragarino, and Jack Gamache all each on record base on balls. After a miscue on the base paths by the Golden Bears, Tyler Kornacki reloaded the bases after being hit by a pitch. From there, Noah Schermerhorn stepped to the plate and launched his first career collegiate home run, a grand slam, giving Western New England a 4-1 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Lions threatened by putting a pair of runners on base, but Flynn got out of the jam, getting a groundout to end the inning.

Third Inning:

The Golden Bears scored on two more runs in the top of the third inning. Ryan Montini knocked a single with one out, followed by another walk issued to Kilroy, putting runners on first and second with one out. Leo Paragarino delivered again, coming away with a double down the left field line to score one, giving WNE a 5-1 lead. Jack Gamache contributed to score Paragarino with an infield single on a bunt, adding to the Golden Bears' lead, taking a 6-1 lead.

Fourth Inning:

The Golden Bears picked up another run in the top of the fourth as Corey Kilroy reached the base paths again, this time earning a single to left field and an RBI, giving the Golden Bears a 7-1 lead.

Fifth Inning:

Connor Flynn lasted 4.2 innings for the Golden Bears, giving up five hits and just one run to the Lions, while walking four and striking out five. Lucas Kamoen recorded the final out of the inning after Mount St. Joseph threatened with a pair of runners on, but the Golden Bears kept its six-run lead.

Sixth Inning:

MSJ scored a pair of runs on one swing in the bottom of the sixth inning off Todd Grammatico, seeing Will Record earn the first three RBIs of the day for the Lions. Record sent a single to left field to bring MSJ back within four, trailing 7-3 after six innings.

Ninth Inning:

WNE added to their lead in the ninth inning to take an 8-3 lead. Connor Cowern led off the frame with a double down the line and eventually scored with two outs in the inning after Leo Paragarino delivered his second RBI of the game, giving the Golden Bears a five-run lead. The Golden Bears loaded the bases with two outs following the hit from Paragarino, seeing Tyler Kornacki and Jack Gamache record singles while Noah Schermerhorn delivered a single of his own to score another run for the Golden Bears, who took a 9-3 lead.
MSJ added one run in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't push past the Golden Bears, who earn the 9-4 win behind five RBIs from Noah Schermerhorn.

Inside the Lines:

First-year Noah Schermerhorn collected two hits in four at-bats, a grand slam and an RBI single to finish the game with five RBIs to lead the Golden Bears on offense.
Leo Paragarino picked up two hits in four at-bats, securing a pair of RBIs to continue his hot streak to begin 2026.
Ryan Montini, Jack Gamache, and Tyler Kornacki all contributed to WNE with a pair of hits each.
Western New England picked up 13 hits in the game as a team.
On the hill, Connor Flynn tossed 4.2 innings, followed by 0.1 innings from Lucas Kamoen, an inning from Todd Grammatico, and the final three innings of the game from Jack Lewis, who earns the save for the Golden Bears after giving up just three hits and a run.
WNE takes the second meeting all-time between the two teams. The Golden Bears took down MSJ in 2017 at the RussMatt Invitational by a 5-4 final.