Timely Hitting Key in Baseball’s Sweep over Curry on Senior Day

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 22, 2023) – The Western New England baseball team came away with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Colonels of Curry College by final scores of 10-1 and 11-7, grabbing their fifth and sixth CCC wins of the season and 19^th and 20^th wins overall. 

Records:

• Western New England: 20-7-2, 6-3-1 CCC
• Curry College: 9-20, 3-9 CCC

Pitching Records: Game 1

• W: Kevin Hummer: 3-1
• L: Jack Needham: 3-4

Pitching Records: Game 2

• W: Jared Kuryan: 3-0
• L: Colman Dyer: 0-3

How it Happened: Game 1

Curry  got off the start they were looking for in the top of the first inning after a leadoff single would lead to two more singles in the inning off SP Kevin Hummer as the Colonels would fill the bases with just one out. Curry would grab their first run of the game on a fielder's choice ground out, giving the Colonels the early 1-0 advantage. Western New England would respond with a four-run bottom of the first inning when Jake Gerraughty cleared the bases with a double to center field after Cody Waterbury, Sean Jamieson and Jack Loftus would all reach with two outs in the inning. Gerraughty would take his first trip of many to home plate on the day after an error forced in WNE's fourth run of the inning as the Golden Bears took a 4-1 lead out of the first. 

Scoring would lighten after the first inning as no runs would be scored from the second inning until the bottom of the fifth inning when CJ Willis sent a long ball to left field, extending WNE's lead to 5-1. Later in the inning, Jake Gerraughty would double for the second time in the game, scoring Cody Waterbury, giving WNE a 6-1 lead after five innings of play. Kevin Hummer would lock down the bats of the Colonels getting Curry down in order after six innings of work. 

WNE would see one run cross in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI walk before Vincent Caccavale went yard in the bottom of the seventh inning after being honored as one of seven seniors for the Golden Bears, giving Western New England a 10-1 lead. 

WNE would see their starter work eight innings, one week removed of going the distance, giving up seven hits and one earned run while walking two and striking out seven on the day. Graduate Student Andrew Chiodi would lock the game down in the ninth for the Golden Bears, needing just ten pitches for three outs, securing the 10-1 win in game one for WNE. 

Inside the Lines:

• Four Golden Bears collected two or more hits as Jake Gerraughty went 3/4 at the plate for WNE, collecting four RBIs in the win. 
• WNE cranked out 13 hits while scoring their ten runs and left just seven runners on base. 
• Kevin Hummer finished the afternoon with seven strikeouts and has now worked at least six innings in three of his last four starts. 
• Both Ryan Goonan and Tommy Marshall collected two hits each for Curry. 

How it Happened: Game 2
As they did in game one, Western New England would explode in the bottom of the first inning, this time, coming away with five runs in the inning, putting Curry at a quick deficit. After Paul Villecco sent a triple to right field, CJ Willis would bring in Villecco with an RBI double to left center field, giving WNE a quick 1-0 lead. Sean Jamieson would score one for the Golden Bears on his single up the middle. WNE would nearly bat around in the inning after Jake Gerraughty, Aaron Cole and Vincent Caccavale would earn RBIs in the inning, giving Western New England a 5-0 lead after one inning of play. 

Curry would respond with their biggest inning of the afternoon, plating three runs off four hits in the top of the second inning off Jared Kuryan, Western New England's game two starter. WNE would get two of those runs back in the bottom of the inning when CJ Willis picked up his second home run of the afternoon and ninth home run of the season, giving WNE the 7-3 lead. 

The Blue and Gold would take care of business in the bottom of the fourth inning, plating four more runs after Jake Gerraughty recorded a two RBI single, Aaron Cole picked up a sac-fly to score a run and Vincent Caccavale would foul out, though see Gerraughty come around to score on a miscue by the Colonels infielders, extending Western New England's lead to now 11-3. 

Curry would put together two runs in both the top of the sixth and top of the eighth innings, off Kuryan and Troy Donohue, though Andrew Melone would close the door on the Colonels in the top of the ninth inning as Western New England would come away with an 11-7 victory over Curry, improving to 20-7-2 on the season. 

Inside the Lines:

• CJ Willis led WNE in game two with three hits and three RBIs. Senior Jake Gerraughty collected three more RBIs in the game, collecting seven total on the afternoon. 
• Eight Golden Bears in the starting lineup collected at least one hit. 
• Aaron Cole and Vincent Caccavale recorded two RBIs each. 
• SP Jared Kuryan went the first six innings for WNE giving up nine hits and five runs, three earned, while striking out three Colonels. Kuryan threw 68 pitches, 53 strikes. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England travels to Nichols College on Tuesday, April 25 at 3:30 PM for an important CCC matchup.