Willis Breaks Career Home Run Record, Baseball Soars Past Minnesota Morris, 14-8

AUBURNDALE, Fla. (March 16, 2023) – Sophomore CJ Willis collected his fourth home run of the season on Thursday morning, a home run that broke the Western New England University baseball all-time record for most home runs in a single career, which now stands with Willis at 18 total home runs. The Golden Bears would use the Willis grand slam to propel past the Cougars of Minnesota Morris University by a final score of 14-8. 

Records:

• Western New England: 6-1-1
• Minnesota Morris: 5-10

Pitching Records:

• W: Alex Slezak: 1-0
• L: Joey Reinarts: 1-2

How it Happened:
The Golden Bears would reach base with their first two batter of the game after CJ Willis and Paul Villecco would both walk to put runners quickly on first and second. The two base runners would steal the next base while Cody Waterbury would induce a ground ball to shortstop which scored Villecco to give Western New England a 1-0 lead.  SP Kevin Hummer would get the Cougars to bounce out to the left side of the diamond to send them down 1-2-3. Western New England opened the top of the second inning with a single by Kohtaro Shimada, followed by a walk by Ryan Montini, in his first career AB with WNE. After Villecco would be plunked with a pitch, WNE would see the bases loaded with one out for CJ Willis. Willis would not take long to send his fourth home run of the season over the fences, a home run that broke the career record in WNE baseball history as Willis connected with his 18^th home run as a member of WNE. Willis breaks a three-year-old record, set previously by Ben LaCroix, who had 17 home runs through his four-year career. Willis, the sophomore, would quickly put Western New England ahead 5-0 through 1.5 innings. 

Minnesota Morris would get a run back in the bottom of the second inning when a single was punched up the middle by Brady Kenning, giving the Cougars their first run of the game as Western New England would lead by four runs after two innings. The blue and gold would continue to score, grabbing another run in the top of the third inning when Paul Villecco singled to left field to score Henry Schowerer, who scored after smacking a double to right field to open the inning. Aaron Cole would add to the hit parade in the top of the fourth inning after sending a single through the middle of the infield to center field to score Jack Loftus, putting the Golden Bears ahead 7-1. 

The Cougars would see their bats come alive in the bottom half of the fourth inning as Minnesota Morris collected five runs in the inning to stun WNE. Brady Kenning, Alex Baumann, and Tyler Scheler would pave the way for the Cougars in the inning as Minnesota Morris scored five runs on three hits in the inning to be down 7-6 after four innings. The Golden Bears would respond to the Cougars five spot on the scoreboard by producing their own five spot, led by Jack Loftus who lifted a double down the left field line to clear the bases after John Bova (single), CJ Willis (single) and Cody Waterbury (walk), all reached base prior. A passed by would score Loftus for WNE while Ryan Montini would pick up his first career hit with Western New England, sending a double into right field that hopped over the fences, dropping in a ground rule double to give Western New England the 12-6 lead. The middle innings would stay quiet, with Minnesota Morris grabbing a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut WNEs' lead to five runs. After the Golden Bears were forced to put up no runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, the blue and gold finished strong, scoring two runs in the top of the ninth when John Bova launched his second career home run and first of the season to give Western New England a 14-8 lead. In the ninth Andrew Melone would shut the door for the Golden Bears in his second appearance of the season, pitching 1.2 innings giving up no hits and no runs while walking none and striking out four Cougars to send the Golden Bears to their fifth victory of the season in Florida and sixth on the season. 

Around the Horn:

• All starting nine Golden Bears collected at least one hit while CJ Willis notched three hits, scoring two runs and collecting four RBIs on the day. 
• Seven Golden Bears had at least one RBI in the game. 
• Western New England would score 14 runs on 13 hits while Minnesota Morris delivered eight runs on ten hits. 
• WNE closed out Minnesota Morris in the final three innings by giving up just one hit and one run while walking one and striking out five. 
• WNE is now hitting .309 as a team while smashing nine home runs on the season through eight games. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England wraps up their 2023 Spring Break Trip on Friday, March 17 at 9:30 AM by taking on New York University (5-4).