DUDLEY, Mass. – It was senior day for the Nichols baseball team on Saturday as they split a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) doubleheader on Saturday with Roger Williams, dropping the first game 9-5 before responding with a 4-3 victory. The Bison will head into the final week of the regular season with a record of 15-20 (9-5 CCC), while the Hawks are now 12-21 (8-6 CCC).
 
Nichols will travel to Springfield to take on the Pride on Monday, May 1 to kick off a stretch of three games in three days. The first pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.
 
Roger Williams 9, Nichols 5
 
After a scoreless first inning, Roger Williams blew things open with an eight-run second inning that included four hits and three errors. Reliever Richard Pignone came on for the Bison to stop the bleeding, keeping the Hawks at eight runs until the ninth.
 
Nichols got on the board in the fifth on sac flies from Brennan Hyde and Jim Marasco, making it 8-2 Hawks. In the seventh, Luis Vargas pulled the Bison within four with a two-RBI base hit, but a caught-stealing ended the inning. Roger Williams added a run in the top of the ninth, making it 9-4.
 
Nichols did not go down quietly in the final frame, as senior Will Kleinhenz singled home Ben Jerome. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases and brought up the tying run, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat and gave the Hawks the win.
 
Jerome led the Nichols offense at the top of the order, picking up three hits in five at-bats, while also scoring two runs. Pignone was terrific out of the pen, going 7.1 innings, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out four.
 
Nichols 4, Roger Williams 3
 
The Bison jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, as Jim Marasco singled home Hyde with two outs in the inning. Luis Vargas and Brad Ellis followed Marasco with RBI base knocks of their own to give Nichols a 3-0 advantage.
 
Roger Williams picked up two runs on one hit and an error in the fourth before tying the game on an RBI double in the fifth. In the sixth, Jerome got a two-out rally going with a walk, followed by a base hit by Johnny Knox. Hyde came up clutch for the Bison, ripping a double down the left-field line to score Jerome and give Nichols the lead back.
 
Senior right-hander Patrick Sawyer shut down the Hawks' offense in the seventh and eighth innings, before handing the ball over to Nolan Sullivan who locked down the ninth inning to give Nichols the important conference victory.
 
Sawyer tossed eight strong innings, allowing eight hits and two earned runs to pick up his fourth win of the campaign. Sullivan secured his third save of the season with a near-perfect ninth inning. Hyde, Marasco, and Vargas all notched two hits for the Bison, with each picking up an RBI.