NCAA REGIONALS: No. 3/4 Baseball Guts Out 5-2 Win Over Bridgewater State

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Another strong start from Charlie Hale (Brookline, N.H.) and some clutch hitting from throughout the lineup led the No. 3/4 Endicott baseball team past Bridgewater State, 5-2, in Friday morning's NCAA Regional matchup at Alumni Park.

WP (12-1): Charlie Hale (Brookline, N.H.) — 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
LP (5-4): Trey Yesu (Monson, Mass.) — 4.2 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
SV (3): Chris Jenkins (Mansfield, Mass.) — 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

After falling behind 1-0 in the first, Zach Stephenson (Mansfield, Mass.) jumpstarted the Gulls offense with a leadoff double, and then came around to score on a sac fly from Joey Frammartino (North Reading, Mass.), knotting the score at one apiece.

Hale faced some more trouble in the top of the second inning, but stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout of Bridgewater State's Ryan Flaherty (Duxbury, Mass.) to escape the danger.

Then, in the bottom of the frame, the Gulls took their first lead of the day at 2-1 after three straight hits from John Mulready (Peabody, Mass.), AJ Hamm (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Robbie Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.).

A few innings later, Danny MacDougall (Taunton, Mass.) padded the lead, as he singled up the middle to score TJ Liponis (Scarborough, Maine) and give the Gulls a 3-1 lead.

Meanwhile, Hale returned to his normal dominant self, as he retired 13 straight Bears between the second and sixth innings. That stretch ended after the Bears landed a runner on an error in the seventh, but Hale didn't skip a beat and calmly set down the next three batters via foul out, pop out, and strikeout to send the Gulls into the bottom of the seventh, up 4-1.

The Bears threatened in the top of the eighth and even plated a run, but Jake Harmony (Fairfield, Conn.) entered with the bases loaded and immediately induced a bases loaded lineout double play turned by Hamm and up the middle to end the inning and strand all three runners.

Doubles from MacDougall and Frammartino gave the Gulls an insurance run heading into the ninth, and Jenkins entered to close out the 5-2 lead. He recorded a strikeout, lineout, and foul out to lock up the game one win.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• This marks the second ever win for Endicott over Bridgewater State in 10 all-time matchups. The only other win over the Bears came in the 2023 NCAA Regionals.
• The Gulls have won eight straight games in NCAA Regional play dating back to May 2023.
• Since March 17, Hale features an ERA of 0.75 and a WHIP of 0.67 in 60 IP.
• Despite their five runs, the Blue and Green left 12 runners on base in the win.
• Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.), Mulready, and MacDougall all logged multi-hit days in the win.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 3/4 Endicott (39-4) takes on the winner of game two (Oswego vs. Concordia (Tex.)) tomorrow at 12 PM. Bridgewater State (30-14) will play the loser of game two tomorrow at 8:30 AM. 

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(Photo Credit - Charlie Jaferian '28)