Beverly, Mass. (5/7/2026) – The Nichols College baseball team saw its Conference of New England Tournament run come to an end on Thursday, falling 7-0 to Endicott College baseball in CNE Championship game 3 before dropping game 5 to the University of Hartford 6-2.
With the results, the Bison finishes the season with a 23-19 overall record after falling in the conference quarterfinals.
Game One: Endicott 7, Nichols 0
Endicott struck early with two runs in the opening inning behind RBI singles from Brenden Walsh and Paul Armstrong to take a quick advantage. The Gulls added three more runs in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 5-0.
Despite the final score, Nichols starter
Clark Churchill turned in a resilient complete-game effort on the mound. The graduate student tossed all eight innings, working through multiple jams and keeping the Bison within striking distance throughout much of the afternoon.
Nichols threatened offensively in several innings but was unable to break through against Endicott starter Brady Stuart. The Bison collected four hits on the day, with
Tyler Ladouceur leading the offense with a 2 for 3 performance.
Ryan Keating and
Julian Galvan added the other two Nichols hits.
Endicott sealed the victory in the eighth inning when TJ Liponis connected on a two-run homer to left-center, pushing the margin to 7-0.
Game Two: Hartford 6, Nichols 2
Hartford struck first in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI single from Nico DiGioia and Patrick Joseph to give the Hawks an early 2-0 advantage. Nichols threatened multiple times early in the contest, loading the bases in both the first and third innings, but Hartford starter Anthony Bubba escaped each jam to keep the Bison off the scoreboard.
The Hawks added to their lead in the fifth when Alek Popovich ripped an RBI double to left-center, extending the margin to 3-0. Hartford pushed the lead to 5-0 an inning later behind a sacrifice fly from DiGioia and another RBI single from Joseph.
Nichols broke through in the seventh inning after pitch hitter
Brady Wendell doubled down the left field line and
Andrew Rocca came around to score while pitch running for Wendell on an RBI single from
Julian Galvan. The Bison added another run in the eighth when
Collin Harty launched a solo home run down the right field line to cut the deficit to 5-2. Hartford answered with an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, drawing a bases-loaded walk to push the lead back to four runs before closing out the 6-2 victory in the ninth.
Galvan and Harty each drove in a run for Nichols, while
Ryan Keating doubled and
Collin Harty reached base four times with a hit and three walks. Wendell added a pinch-hit double in the late rally effort.
On the mound,
Aidan Whitten got the start for the Bison before
Mitch Brown provided 3.1 innings of relief.
Abe Anderson struck out three across 2.1 innings, while
Andrew Rocca recorded the final out of the eighth inning.
With the conclusion of today's game, the Nichols College Baseball program's 2026 season comes to a close.
