NCAA SUPER REGIONALS: No. 9/11 Baseball Completes Comeback To Take Game One Over No. 4/5 Salve Regina, 9-7

NEWPORT, R.I. — The No. 9/11 nationally ranked Endicott baseball team erased an early five-run deficit to defeat No. 4/5 Salve Regina, 9-7, in Friday afternoon's Super Regional opener from Brother Reynolds Field.

WP (3-1): Jeremy Krendel (Framingham, Mass.) — 4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
LP (10-1): Luis Ortiz Ramirez (Boston, Mass.) — 5.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
SV (6): Kyan Bagshaw (Amherst, N.H.) — 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

After falling behind 5-0 in the bottom of the first, the Gulls faced a tough challenge ahead of them to pull off a game one victory.

However, freshman southpaw Jeremy Krendel (Framingham, Mass.) turned in four much-needed innings of relief to quiet the Salve Regina offense for the time being.

In that stretch, the Gulls were able to get on the board after AJ Hamm (Shrewsbury, Mass.) came around to score on TJ Liponis' (Scarborough, Maine) double down the left field line.

Now facing a 5-1 deficit, Krendel went back to work in the bottom of the fourth and continued dealing. After inducing a groundout to Liponis at short to end the inning and strand two runners in scoring position, he gave the Gulls some momentum as their bats came back to the plate.

The Blue and Green really broke through in the top of the fifth. Hamm again led off the rally with a single through the left side of the infield, and was followed with a walk of James Benestad (Portsmouth, R.I.). Then, thanks to a fielder's choice and back-to-back hit-by-pitches of Liponis and Kyle Grabowski (Westfield, Mass.), the Gulls pushed across another run (Grabowski RBI HBP), and the bases remained loaded for Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.) in a big spot.

The junior first baseman worked a long, arduous 10-pitch battle against Ortiz, seemingly getting more comfortable as the at-bat continued.

Eventually, on the 10th pitch, he laced one down the left field line, and was able to cut it through the wind and over the left field fence for a go-ahead grand slam.

After the crowd-silencer from Bernardo, Jake Harmony (Fairfield, Conn.) came on to relieve Krendel. Harmony pitched three innings of shutout relief, and again gave the Gulls offense a chance to distance themselves from the Seahawks.

The Gulls did just that in the top of the eighth inning, as they tacked on three insurance runs. 

Brenden Walsh (Reading, Mass.) led off with a walk and swiped second and third to get himself just 90 feet away from another Gulls run.

After John Fusco (Naples, Fla.) also reached on a walk, James Benestad (Portsmouth, R.I.) delivered a clutch RBI single through the left side of the infield to make it 7-5 Endicott.

Then, Liponis broke the Seahawks' backs with a two-run single, and stretched the lead out to 9-5.

Those insurance runs turned out to be key, as Salve Regina scored a pair of their own in the bottom of the eighth to inch back into it, but Kyan Bagshaw (Amherst, N.H.) was able to escape a bigger threat after entering with runners on first and third and nobody out, setting down three straight Seahawks to keep the lead intact.

Bagshaw then closed out the ninth with two strikeouts and a flyout to seal the game one win for the Gulls.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Gulls need just one win tomorrow to advance to the College World Series.
• Salve Regina still holds a slight 36-35 advantage in the all-time series.
• Between his five plate appearances in today's game, Bernardo saw a total of 37 pitches (10, 6, 10, 3, 8, respectively).
• The Endicott bullpen pitched the full nine innings and limited the Seahawks, who rank ninth in DIII with 10.3 runs per game, to just two earned runs. 
• First meeting between the two programs since 2023, when Endicott bested Salve Regina in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 9/11 Endicott (39-10) and No. 4/5 Salve Regina (39-7) square off tomorrow at 11 AM for game two of the Super Regional slate. Endicott needs just one win to advance to the College World Series, and Salve Regina needs two. An if necessary game three would take place 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one. 

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(Photo Credit - Jake Goodman '26)