SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 15, 2026) – The Western New England baseball team started the scoring in the opening inning of the game, getting back-to-back home runs from
Tyler Waterbury and
Tyler Kornacki, which helped pave the way to an eventual 14-8 win over the Blazers of Elms College on Wednesday afternoon from Trelease Park.
Records:
- Western New England: 13-16
- Elms College: 9-17
How it Happened:
First Inning:
- Connor Flynn made the start for Western New England on Wednesday and surrendered the first run of the contest as Elms struck with two out when Noah Scanlon-Dean singled through the right side of the diamond to score Raynel Rodriguez, giving the Blazers a quick 1-0 lead.
- Western New England responded in the bottom of the inning for three runs off Sean Rosemond. Leo Paragarino led off the inning with a double to left field, followed by the second straight day in which Tyler Waterbury hit the ball over the fences, giving the Golden Bears a 2-1 lead. Tyler Kornacki followed with back-to-back Western New England home runs, launching his first career home run, giving the Golden Bears a 3-1 lead.
Second Inning:
- The Golden Bears added a run in the bottom of the second after Andrew Florek singled, Leo Paragarino would start the game 2-for-2 at the plate, picking up an RBI double to left-center field to add to the WNE lead, which stood at 4-1 after two innings.
Fourth Inning:
- Paragarino continued his excellent afternoon from the plate, adding a third hit in the bottom of the fourth inning to score two runs after Greg Nivison and Andrew Florek got a free ride on base and came around to score on the single from Paragarino. Tyler Waterbury contributed his second hit of the afternoon to score Paragarino, giving the Golden Bears a 7-1 lead after four innings.
Fifth Inning:
- The Blazers got a run back in the top of the fifth inning after Connor Flynn exited the game, giving up a pair of walks and hit a batter, getting just one out in the frame. Jacob Dudley came in relief, gave up a sacrifice fly to Brycen Diaz, and got a popout to end the inning. Elms trailed 7-2 after the top of the frame.
- The bottom of the inning brought three more runs home for Western New England, who took a 10-2 lead. Noah Schermerhorn picked up an RBI double down the right field line, while Greg Nivison tripled to score another and came home on a balk that gave the Blue and Gold an eight-run lead after five innings.
Sixth Inning:
- One swing of the bat for the Blazers with two outs in the top of the sixth brought Elms within five after Raynel Rodriguez hit a three-run home run off Todd Grammatico. The Blazers trailed 10-5 after the top of the inning.
- The Golden Bears got a run back in the bottom of the frame after Tyler Waterbury singled, advanced to third base on a ground ball, and came home on a Ryan Montini sacrifice fly, giving Western New England an 11-5 lead.
Seventh Inning:
- Elms drove its second home run of the game out of the ballpark in the top of the frame off Jaret Sarrantonio when Brycen Diaz hit his third home run of the season, pulling Elms back within four.
Eighth Inning:
- For the fourth straight inning, Elms had a run, this time getting a solo home run from Manny Essley, his second of the season, getting the Blazers within three of the Golden Bears, 11-8.
- The first three Golden Bears reached in the bottom half of the eighth inning, Corey Kilroy picking up a double, Noah Schermerhorn a single, and Greg Nivison walked to load the bases with no outs. Andrew Florek produced an RBI on a groundout to score Kilroy, giving WNE a 12-8 lead. Jack Gamache broke the game back open with a two-RBI double down the left field line, seeing the Golden Bears take a 14-8 lead.
Ninth Inning:
- Ryan Makowski pitched for the Golden Bears to finish out the game, giving up just a hit and had a strikeout to close out a 14-8 WNE victory.
Inside the Lines:
- Tyler Waterbury led WNE with four hits in six at-bats, collecting three RBIs and scoring two runs.
- Leo Paragarino was a perfect 3-for-3 for WNE in the win, also collecting three RBIs.
- Jack Gamache, Tyler Kornacki, Noah Schermerhorn, Greg Nivison, Andrew Florek, and Ryan Montini all had RBIs for the Golden Bears.
- WNE used six different pitchers in the game. Connor Flynn went the first 4.1 innings, giving up four hits and two runs, walking and striking out three each. Jacob Dudley, Todd Grammatico, Jaret Sarrantonio, Ian Brais, and Ryan Makowski were all used to finish out the win.
- Western New England has scored 30 runs over its last two games and had four innings of three runs in today's win.
Up Next on the Schedule:
The Golden Bears head to Curry College for a weekend doubleheader on Saturday, April 18, beginning at 12:00 PM.