Baseball Opens Season with Come from Behind Victory in Extra Innings over Clark, 9-8

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (February 25, 2020) – The Western New England University baseball came from behind to defeat Clark, 9-8, in extra innings in their season opener on Tuesday afternoon at Granger Field.

Top Performers
Senior Conor Scully (Auburn, Mass.) threw four shutout innings to earn the win for the Golden Bears. Freshman Vincent Caccavale (East Hartford, Conn.) had two doubles and two runs batted in, while sophomore Ben Harrison (Newtown, Conn.) had a triple and two runs batted in. Junior Joe Webber (Marshfield, Mass.) and Freshman EJ Dudley (Meriden, Conn.) both stole two bases.

Senior Collin Porter (Brookfield, Conn.) hit a grand slam for the Cougars. Senior Nick Jordan (Seaford, N.Y.) hit a triple for Clark.

Game Review
Clark opened the scoring after in the bottom of the first inning when Porter hit a grand slam to put the Cougars up 4-0.

The Golden Bears responded in the next half inning when freshman Paul Villecco (Cheshire, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly out to center field that allowed Ben Harrison to score.

The Cougars got back on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning when junior Steven Mooney (Buffalo, N.Y.) hit a single to score junior Trevor Ham (North Andover, Mass.).

In the top of the fifth inning, senior Zac Nussbaum (Bridgewater, Mass.) singled to center field, scoring senior Jamie Schofield (Darien, Conn.) and junior Sebastian Grignano (Meriden, Conn.) on the play to cut the Cougar lead down to 5-3. In the bottom of the sixth inning, senior Ryan Ruhlin (Portland, Maine) hit a single that scored Porter to put Clark up 6-3.

Western New England tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the seventh inning. Harrison hit a triple that allowed senior Kevin Johnson (Waterford, Conn.) and junior Jake Balderston (Hadley, Mass.) to score. In the next at-bat, Webber singled, allowing Harrison to score to tie up the game.

Senior Dylan Horn (Sterling, Conn.) scored for the Cougars in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Clark the lead back, 7-6. Heading into the top of the ninth down 8-6, Caccavale hit a double that brought in Dudley and Nussbaum to tie the game 8-8. 

After both teams went scoreless in the 10^th and 11 innings, Balderston hit a single that brought Dudley home for the winning run.

Notes
• Western New England and Clark both had 10 hits.

Up Next
Western New England (1-0) will travel back to Clark on Saturday afternoon to take on Wheaton. Clark (1-3) hosts Keene State on Wednesday afternoon.