No. 3/4 Baseball Rallies Past Hartford To Cap Off Sweep, 17-1 (7 Inn.) and 12-9

BEVERLY, Mass. — The No. 3/4 nationally ranked Endicott baseball team mercied Hartford, 17-1, in game one, but was forced to pull out a come-from-behind victory in game two, 12-9, to keep their home winning streak alive on Saturday afternoon.

GAME ONE: ENDICOTT 17, HARTFORD 1 (7 INN.)

WP (8-1): Charlie Hale (Brookline, N.H.) — 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
LP (0-3): Jeffrey Blake (Hopewell, N.J.) — 2.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

The Gulls immediately bounced out to a five-run lead in the bottom of the first in game one. Four straight hits from Zach Stephenson (Mansfield, Mass.) (double), Danny MacDougall (Taunton, Mass.) (double), Joey Frammartino (North Reading, Mass.) (double), and Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.) (single) set the tone to lead off the frame.

They tacked on three more in the bottom of the third, highlighted by a two-run shot to left by TJ Liponis (Scarborough, Maine). 

Then, they buried the Hawks with a gigantic eight-run fourth inning in which 13 batters came up to hit. John Mulready (Peabody, Mass.) hit back-to-back homers with AJ Hamm (Shrewsbury, Mass.), and then later recorded an RBI single in the same inning as part of the offensive explosion. Frammartino also drove in two with a double to right center in the frame.

Trevor Kamuda (Groveland, Mass.) capped off the game one home run parade with his first career homer. It came on an inside pitch that he turned on and crushed to left, nearly clearing the treetops.

Needless to say, that offensive production was more than enough for Hale, who whirled his second straight seven-inning complete game effort.

GAME TWO: ENDICOTT 12, HARTFORD 9

WP (1-0): Colby Correia (Fairhaven, Mass.) — 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
LP (1-2): Michael Featherstone (Ramsey, N.J.) — 3+ IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Game two featured a much different kind of win than game one, as the Gulls were forced to pull off a big comeback.

After finding themselves down 6-0 through two, MacDougall inserted some life into the Endicott offense with a two-run blast to left center.

Then, in the fourth, the Gulls received a gift from the Hawks, as Liponis and Robbie Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.) each came around to score on a "Little League homer" which featured two errors on the same play from the Hawks defense.

The next batter up following Liponis was Stephenson, and he fully capitalized on the sloppiness, as he demolished his sixth homer of the season over the left center field fence to make it a 6-5 ball game.

In the following inning, Liponis came up clutch with an RBI single into right center, plating Hamm to tie things up at six apiece.

The Hawks regained a lead with a clutch RBI double in the top of the seventh, once again putting the Gulls on the defensive.

Endicott responded with a huge six-run bottom of the eighth, taking a comfortable lead on the Hawks. Stephenson again started the rally with a double into left center, and after MacDougall was beaned, both runners came in to score on a double into the right field corner off the bat of Frammartino.

Bernardo then drilled a single up the middle to plate another run, and Wladkowski delivered the big blast, a three-run rockshot homer, to put the Gulls in front 12-7.

Despite a slight ninth-inning rally from the Hawks, Derek Roberts (Wayland, Mass.) was able to bear down and close things out for a thrilling 12-9 Endicott home victory.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Gulls advance to 4-0 all-time against the Hawks.
• Seven different Endicott hitters went yard over the course of the doubleheader.
• Correia picked up the first win of his career after escaping a bases-loaded jam with the Gulls down one in the top of the eighth.
• Wladkowski's bomb was the 20th of his Endicott career.
• Endicott entered today with the highest scoring offense in Division III.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 3/4 Endicott (25-3, 11-0 CNE) welcomes Johnson & Wales to North Field on Monday for a 3:30 PM non-conference matchup. Hartford (13-17, 5-6 CNE) hosts Nichols on Tuesday for a 3:30 PM CNE clash. 

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(Photo Credit - Kaeli Talora '25)