No. 19/27 Baseball Outslugs Southern Maine, 21-10
GORHAM, Maine — The No. 19/27 nationally ranked Endicott baseball team erupted for a 21-spot offensively to defeat Southern Maine, 21-10, in Wednesday afternoon's non-conference matinee from Ed Flaherty Field.
WP (6-1): Ben Gill (Sanford, Maine) — 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
LP (0-1): Riley O'Brien (Woodstock, Conn.) — 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
In a wild offensive matchup, the Gulls struck for four runs over the first two frames.
In the first, Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.) drove in TJ Liponis (Scarborough, Maine) via groundout.
An inning later, Trevor Kamuda (Groveland, Mass.) knocked home an RBI single to make it 2-0, Brady Rickenbach (Manchester, N.H.) drove in Kamuda on a groundout, and Liponis eventually doubled home Kamuda to make it 4-0 in favor of the Gulls.
With the game now at 4-1 in the top of the fifth (Huskies RBI double in the fourth), AJ Hamm (Shrewsbury, Mass.) grounded into a run-scoring double play and Bernardo crossed home on a wild pitch to put the Blue and Green up by five (6-1).
The Huskies' bats caught fire in the bottom of the fifth to cut Endicott's lead down to just one (6-5), but the Gulls escaped the frame with the lead still intact.
In the top of the sixth, the Gulls responded with a huge five-spot, highlighted by Brenden Walsh's (Reading, Mass.) grand slam.
However, the hosts stayed resilient, and matched with five runs of their own over the sixth and seventh innings to cut Endicott's lead back to just one (11-10) through seven full.
That score remained until the top of the ninth, when the Gulls bats exploded for 10 runs of insurance.
Two-run doubles from Kamuda and Rickenbach, a Kyle Grabowski (Westfield, Mass.) sac fly, a Bernardo two-run blast, a Fusco RBI double, and RBI walks from Stephen Ondrick (Weymouth, Mass.) and Liponis gave the Gulls their sought-after run support.
A scoreless bottom of the ninth from Matt Pappalardo (Pelham, N.H.) sealed Endicott's road victory, 21-10.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott has won 10 straight matchups against Southern Maine dating back to 3/30/22.
- First career grand slam for Walsh.
- Jeremy Krendel (Framingham, Mass.) made his first career start. The left-handed freshman turned in a solid four innings of work, fanning five along the way (4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K).
- Fusco and Kamuda each logged three-hit outings.
- Liponis notched his fourth multi-hit performance in the last six games.
WHAT'S NEXT
No. 19/27 Endicott (19-7) heads to Wentworth on Saturday for a Conference of New England (CNE) doubleheader (2/5 PM). Southern Maine (19-6) hosts Bowdoin tomorrow evening in a 7 PM non-conference bout.
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(Photo Credit - Jake Goodman '26)