DUDLEY, Mass. (5/6/2024) – The Nichols College baseball team is set to take on the Western New England University Golden Bears on Tuesday, May 7, at 3:00 p.m. at the Nichols Baseball Field. The Bison have earned a home game after securing the No. 4 seed in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament, WNE will be the No. 5 seed.
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How They Got Here: The Bison finished with a regular season record of 29-11 and 9-5 in CCC play. Nichols recorded three six plus game winning streaks on their way to the most wins in Program history in the regular season. In CCC play they earned massive wins over, at the time, #23 Roger Williams and a win against WNE in their final game of regular season CCC play.
For the Golden Bears, they finished with an overall record of 20-18 and 8-6 in CCC play. One of the biggest wins of the year was the 12-4 win over Roger Williams on the final game of the year, to earn a split.
Last Time They Played: The Bison and Golden Bears faced off for the second time on April 30. The Bison were victorious in 10 innings, 8-7 after a walk-off walk by sophomore
Liam Flynn. The jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the Golden Bears climbed right back into the game in the eighth inning with a 5 run inning, capped off by a three-run home run. Nichols won in 10 innings, 8-7.
Scouting the Bison: Nichols is powered by their top two hitters in seniors
Johnny Knox and
Brennan Hyde. Knox his batting .424 with 72 hits and 52 RBI, while hitting 12 home runs this season. Hyde is also above .400 with a .409 batting average with 63 hits and 54 RBI. Hyde has also hit 9 home runs, with 38 walks this season. Knox and Hyde have each earned CCC Player of the Week recognition for their efforts.
The Nichols offense is also supported by Senior
Ben Jerome, who is batting .374 this season with 43 hits and 31 stolen bases. Graduate student
Will Kleinhenz is also batting .353 with four home runs and 34 RBI primarily as the designated hitter.
On the mound for the Bison, is junior
Clark Churchill, who cemented his role as the starter this season. He holds a 7-3 record with a 2.41 ERA and 52.1 innings pitched. Batters facing Churchill have a .216 average overall in 13 appearances for the right hander.
Graduate student
Patrick Sawyer and junior
John Steed have also been the other starting pitcher for the Bison. Sawyer posts a 5.49 ERA, with a 5-4 record in 62.1 innings pitched. He has a season high eight strikeouts, against Suffolk this season. For Steed, he earned his first collegiate win on the mound this season and holds a 5-1 record as a lefty. He has thrown 42.2 innings and has a 2.95 ERA. Steed also posted an eight-strikeout outing against, at the time, #23 Roger Williams in a win for the Bison.
Churchill and Sawyer both have earned CCC Pitcher of the Week honors.
Scouting the Golden Bears: Senior Cody Waterbury has hit 10 home runs for WNE this season, for a total of 33 RBI and is batting .316 in 33 games this season, while slugging .675. Junior John Bova helps control the middle of the infield, while batting .317 to lead the team.
On the mound, senior Jared Kuryan has a 6-3 record with a 4.78 ERA in 10 appearances this season. He has thrown 52.2 innings an struck out 42 batters. Senior Troy Donohue and freshman Tanner Wall, also have both seen time for the Golden Bears. Donohue has four save son the season in 32.0 innings pitched in 14 appearances out of the bullpen. Wall is 1-2 in 28.2 innings pitched with seven starts as a first-year.
The Bison and Golden Bears will face off for the third time this season, with the winner set to face CCC top seed Endicott on Thursday, May 9. First pitch for that game is set for 12:00 p.m.
