SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Nichols College baseball team wrapped up the 2018 regular season with a pair of setbacks on the road at Western New England University on Sunday afternoon.
The Bison (12-26, 6-10 CCC) dropped game one, 14-3, and the Golden Bears (26-11, 11-5 CCC) walked off with a 7-6 victory in the nightcap. Nichols will need some help to qualify for the upcoming Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament with several games being postponed to tomorrow afternoon, most notably the Wentworth/Curry doubleheader starting at 2:00 p.m.
A day after senior
Cam Cook became the first Nichols player to reach 200 hits, classmate
Nick Roy went 2-for-3 in game two to notch his 200th career hit in his career.
Game One – Western New England 14, Nichols 3
Cook went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI to lead the Nichols offense in game one. Sophomore
Kyle Bouchard went 2-for-3 with the other RBI, while sophomore
Christian Naccari and freshman
Nathaniel Cormier each went 1-for-3 with Cormier scoring a run.
Junior
Danny Hayden took the loss for the Bison allowing seven runs (four earned) on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 3.0 innings. Freshman
Justin Hurley followed, giving up seven runs (two earned) on five hits with four walks and a strikeout.
After falling behind 3-0 in the bottom of the first, the Bison plated three runs in the top of the second to knot the game at 3-3 on a two-run single by Cook and an RBI single from Bouchard. Unfortunately for the Bison, that would be all the offense for Nichols as Western New England outscored the Bison 11-0 over the final six innings.
Game Two – Western New England 7, Nichols 6 (8 Innings)
Nichols held a late 6-5 lead in the top of the sixth, but the Golden Bears scored a run each in the seventh and eighth innings to rally past the Bison, 7-6.
Cook collected three more hits on the day, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Nick Roy went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Bouchard, senior
Chris Anderson, and freshman
Riley Parent each went 1-for-4. Naccari and freshman
Alexander Stroshine each added 1-for-3 days.
Freshman
Matthew Stewart took a no-decision in the start, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits with a walk. Sophomore
Andrew Charbonneau gave up a run in 2.0 innings of work, while senior
Kevin Kirley took the loss, giving up two runs on three this with a walk in 1.2 innings.
The Bison scored twice in the top of the first as Anderson earned an RBI with a bases loaded walk, and Naccari plated a run with a sac fly to make it a 2-0 advantage. Cook made it a 3-0 lead in the top of the second with an RBI single, and later scored when Bouchard reached on an error to give Nichols a 4-0 lead.
Western New England scored runs in the second and third innings before plating two in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 4-4.
Anderson put Nichols back in front when Bouchard scored on the back end of a double play. The Golden Bears answered with a run in the fifth, but the Bison took the lead back in the top of the sixth on an RBI groundout by Roy.
Western New England tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single, and won the game in the bottom of the eighth on a walk-off RBI single.
All-Time Series
Sunday marked the 44th and 45th meeting between the two teams and Western New England leads the all-time series, 31-14.
