Baseball Endicott Athletic Communications

Top-Seeded Endicott Sweeps WNE To Retain Conference Title And Clinch Five-Peat

BEVERLY, Mass. — The No. 11/12 nationally ranked and top-seeded Endicott baseball team swept third-seeded Western New England, 7-4 and 3-1, to capture its fifth consecutive Conference of New England (CNE) championship on Sunday afternoon at North Field.

GAME ONE: NO. 11/12 ENDICOTT 7, WNE 4

WP (4-1): Jake Harmony (Fairfield, Conn.) — 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB 2 K
LP (1-2): Brody Rogers (Schodack, N.Y.) — 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

Needing a win to force a winner-take-all game two, the Gulls fell behind 3-0 early in the contest.

Max Jarvie (Wilton, Conn.) turned in a strong first two innings, but was chased in the second after allowing three earned runs.

He turned the ball over to Harmony, who was dominant in his relief. The junior limited the Golden Bears to just six baserunners across 6.2 IP and allowed just one earned run.

Behind his effort out of the bullpen, the Gulls' offense was able to rally.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.) brought in the first Gulls run of the day with an RBI single to left. 

Then, a batter later, Brenden Walsh (Reading, Mass.) gave the Blue and Green their first lead of the day, as he took one the other way for an opposite field, go-ahead three-run shot.

However, that lead was short-lived, as the Golden Bears knotted things up at four in the top of the sixth. 

Still tied at four in the bottom of the eighth, James Benestad (Portsmouth, R.I.) and Trevor Kamuda (Groveland, Mass.) both reached with back-to-back one-out singles.

Then, Adam Regan (Braintree, Mass.) stepped up to the plate, and gave the Gulls the big hit they were looking for. He turned on a 2-1, inside pitch, and lifted a go-ahead three-run shot over the left field fence, sending North Field into a frenzy. 

Harmony successfully closed out a 1-2-3 ninth to force the if-necessary game two.

GAME TWO: NO. 11/12 ENDICOTT 3, WNE 1

WP (3-4): Evan Scully (Maynard, Mass.) — 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
LP (5-2): Colby DiMenna (Cromwell, Conn.) — 5+ IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
SV (3): Colby Correia (Fairhaven, Mass.) — 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K

In a rubber match game two, both sides featured some dominant pitching. 

Scully delivered perhaps his best start of the season when it mattered most. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, and besides one solo shot allowed (third inning), he was nearly untouchable in his six-inning start.

After falling behind 1-0, the Gulls offense evened the score in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a Bernardo solo shot off the rocks in left center.

Kamuda led off the bottom of the sixth, and after his leadoff single, he came in to score on Kyle Grabowski's (Westfield, Mass.) go-ahead RBI single. 

The Golden Bears pitching staff escaped a no-out, bases loaded situation, avoiding further damage in that sixth inning.

With the score still at 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Gulls nabbed their crucial insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to Bernardo's clean RBI single to left.

In relief, Correia entered to replace Scully in the top of the seventh. He did not allow a single Golden Bear to reach base in his shutdown three innings of work, and closed out another 1-2-3 frame in the ninth (groundout to short, two called strikeouts) to secure another CNE Championship victory at North Field.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

  • Scully was named the CNE Tournament's Most Outstanding Player after he earned the win in game two.
  • Gulls improve to 38-25 all-time against the Golden Bears.
  • Harmony's 6.2 IP in game one set a new career high. His previous career high was just 4 IP.
  • Walsh finished first in the CNE with 49 RBI, and second in homers with nine.
  • Grabowski led the Gulls with a team-best slashline throughout the CNE Tournament (.429 AVG / .500 OBP / .619 SLG).
  • 11th CCC/CNE Championship for the Gulls program (fifth consecutive).

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 11/12 Endicott (35-9) receives the league's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament, and awaits NCAA selection show information (airs tomorrow at 12 PM ET).

WNE (24-20) sees its 2026 campaign come to a close with today's two losses.