Game Four: #1 Endicott 11, #2 Concordia 0

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The nationally ranked Endicott College baseball team is a win away from moving on in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament.

The top-seeded Gulls improved to 2-0 in the Bridgewater Regional with an 11-0 victory over second-seeded Concordia University of Austin, Texas Saturday afternoon at Alumni Park.

Endicott (40-4) advances to the championship round of the double-elimination regional, which begins at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

The Gulls will face the winner of Saturday afternoon's elimination game between Concordia and third-seeded Oswego State of New York.

The regional champion will play in a Super Regional next Friday and Saturday against the winner of the Wisconsin-Lacrosse Regional.

Endicott, bidding for a third straight trip to the College World Series, has won 32 of the last 33 games and is on a nine-game winning streak in regional tournament games.

Junior Evan Scully (Maynard, Mass.) pitched a complete game, allowing just two hits, to improve to 10-0.

Scully struck out six and walked one against the Tornados (34-12), who won their opener Friday on a walk-off home run in the ninth inning against Oswego State.

The Gulls used a five-run third-inning to seize control.

Concordia managed just a leadoff single in the second inning by senior Eric Garcia (Grand Prairie, Texas) and a one-out single in the ninth by graduate student Aaron Gomez (Corpus Christi, Texas) off Scully.

Endicott took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI double to left by graduate student Kyle Grabowski (Westfield, Mass.).

In the third, Grabowski delivered a two-run single up the middle before sophomore Cade Bernardo (Glenmont, N.Y.) hit a three-run home run to left.

The lead went to 8-0 in the sixth on a two-run double to left by senior Robbie Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.).

In the seventh, Bernardo doubled home Grabowski, who had singled, for a 9-0 lead, and the final two runs in the eighth came home via a sacrifice fly by senior Zach Stephenson (Mansfield, Mass.) and a single by senior Danny MacDougall (Taunton, Mass.).

Graduate student Dakota Palmer (Needville, Texas) took the loss and is now 8-2. Palmer gave up eight runs and nine hits with four strikeouts in six innings.

Endicott was the winner of the Bridgewater Regional in 2023 when it lost the opener to Bridgewater State University, then won four straight games.

An "if necessary'' game on Saturday in the title round would be played 45 minutes after the first game.