DUDLEY, Mass. (3/26/2026) – The Nichols College baseball team earned a non-conference 7–3 victory over Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Thursday afternoon, using timely hitting and a steady performance throughout the lineup to secure the win.
With the win, the Bison improve to 7-6 (1-0 CNE) overall, while WPI falls to 3-7 (0-2 CNE).
The Bison struck early and maintained control throughout, building a lead with consistent offensive pressure. Nichols capitalized on a pair of walks in the bottom of the second, with Morrisette driving in the game's first run with an RBI single to right field. The Bison would see even more key opportunities with runners on base in the bottom of the third, stringing together four more runs off a two-RBI double to deep center by
Collin Harty, an RBI single from
Adam Pivacek, and an
Andrew Rocca triple to the gap in left center, making it a 5-0 Bison lead.
The Engineers answered with three runs of their own in the top of the fourth, but failed to plate any more runs the rest of the contest, with both sides going scoreless through the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. Despite a 4-2 edge in hits, WPI was forced to leave five runners stranded in that span.
Nichols returned with some insurance runs in the home half of the eighth inning, with Morrisette driving in another pair of runs on a single to left field, before adding an extra base on the play off a fielding error by the WPI left fielder, extending Nichols' lead to the final score of 7-3.
Morrisette's production in the middle of the lineup helped fuel the Bison's offensive effort in the win, finishing with two hits and three RBI. On the mound, the Bison staff delivered a composed outing, limiting WPI to three runs while working out of traffic in several innings. Sophomore
Ashton Hammond (1-0) earned his first collegiate win as the starter, pitching 3.1 innings with three runs allowed on two WPI hits, striking out four batters. Five others saw time on the mound, including senior
Nicholas Willand, who picked up the save with four strikeouts.
The defense backed the pitching effort with solid play behind them, preventing the Engineers from mounting any sustained comeback.
Baseball will be away for their next matchup at Roger Williams University (6-7, 0-1 CNE) on Monday, March 30th. The CNE doubleheader with the Hawks is set to begin at 12:30 PM for game one (7 inning game) and 3:00 PM for game two.
