Endicott Baseball Reaches First NCAA World Series Championships

EASTLAKE, Ohio — The Endicott College baseball team is headed to the NCAA Division III Championship Series for the first time in program history after a 4-2 victory against Adrian on Monday night.

Endicott, ranked No. 9/11 nationally, improved to 43-12 and will face No. 1/1 Denison in a best-of-three series beginning Wednesday at noon at Classic Field in East Lake, Ohio.

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Endicott struck first in the opening inning of the winner-take-all semifinal series game.

TJ Liponis scored on Brenden Walsh's RBI single through the left side, giving the Gulls a 1-0 lead. Adrian limited the damage early, however, stranding seven Endicott baserunners over the first four innings and keeping the game within reach.

Up 1-0 on a Brendan Walsh RBI single scoring TJ Liponis in the first inning, the Gulls broke through again with two runs in the fifth.

Kyle Grabowski drew a leadoff walk, Cade Bernardo singled, and Walsh worked a walk to load the bases. John Fusco then delivered a two-run single up the middle to extend the Endicott lead to 3-0 with no outs in the inning.

Endicott added another run in the seventh when AJ Hamm brought home Fusco, who had reached third on a double and a wild pitch, with an RBI single up the middle.

Evan Scully gave Endicott a dominant start. The right-hander allowed a single in the first inning, then retired 17 straight batters between the first and seventh innings.

He worked eight innings, allowing four hits, one run, no walks and striking out seven to earn the win and improve to 6-4.

Adrian finally mounted late pressure in the ninth. After the first batter reached, Endicott turned to All-American ace Brady Stuart to close the game. Stuart allowed a two-out, two-run home run, but Endicott recorded the final out on a grounder to Hamm at second, preserving the victory.

The Gulls have advanced to their first NCAA Division III national championship in any team sport.

Endicott is in the College World Series for the fourth year in a row. No other program at any level can say that right now. The Gulls are also the first Division III team since Chapman two decades ago to reach four straight national championships.

It also marked the fourth winner-take-all game Endicott has played this postseason, and the Gulls are 4-0 in those matchups.

Scully earned the win in three of those four games.