WORCESTER, Mass. (4/25/2024) – Head Coach Tim Mayo earned his 100th career win with the Nichols College baseball team as the Bison hit six home runs in a 16-4 win over Clark University on Thursday afternoon from Granger Field. Multiple records were broken as the Bison won their 22nd game of the season.
Senior Johnny Knox found his way into the record book with his five RBI afternoon, that helped him pass Tom Kirby who tallied 45 RBI in 1987. Knox now sits alone with 48 RBI on the season. Knox finished the game going 3-4 with two home runs, five RBI, and three runs scored. This is the second time this season Knox has hit two home runs in a game.
Senior Brennan Hyde, hit his 23rd home run of his career, directly after Knox tied Hyde for the all-time record. Sophomore Dylan Moran recorded his first grand slam home run, as well as his first multi-home run game for the Bison in the win.
For Mayo, his 100 wins places him third all-time in wins as the Bison's Skipper.
Neither team scored in the opening inning, but the second inning is when the Bison bats came alive. Graduate student Will Kleinhenz led off the second inning with a solo home run to left field to open the scoring. This was his third home run of the season. Two singles and walk with one out loaded the bases for Moran. Moran lifted a ball down the left field line that stayed fair for the grand slam home run and the Bison blew the game open with a 5-0 lead.
The offense was not done there. Senior Ben Jerome was hit by a pitch and then stole second with Knox at the plate. Knox hits his team leading 11th home run of the season over the left center field fence to make it 7-0 Nichols after the top of the second inning.
In the third inning, Nichols continued to add pressure and a single from senior Andrew Croteau allowed for sophomore Liam Flynn to scored Croteau from second base, for an 8-0 lead. In the fourth inning, back-to-back walks from Knox and Hyde allowed Kleinhenz to single and scored Knox from second base. Flynn batted again with two outs and doubled to scored both Hyde and Kleinhenz. Nichols led 11-0.
In the fifth inning, Moran hit his second home run of the game, this time a solo shot. Clark University got on the scoreboard with a solo home run of their own. Junior Luis Vargas singled and Jerome followed him as well to put runners on first and second. Knox then launched his 12th home run of the season and made it 15-1 for the Bison. This home run tied Knox with teammate Kyle Bouchard '22 for the single season record.
Hyde followed Knox up with a solo home run of his own to extend the lead as the Bison went back-to-back, making it 16-1. The six Bison home runs in the game also tied the all-time record for home runs in a game. This has happened two other times in program history. The first time was 4/21/199 against Becker College and the second time was 4/16/2003 against MIT.
The Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning but fell 16-4 in seven innings to the Bison. Brown (1-0) earns his first win of the season for the Bison. He threw 4.1 innings with six strikeouts, while allowing one hit. Teammate Leo Colena entered in relief, throwing 1.2 innings and striking out three batters and allowing one hit. Freshman Jonathon Brzezicki also threw 1.0 inning striking out three batters and allow three runs.
Nichols (22-9, 6-5) will get set for CCC play as they travel to #23 Roger Williams University for a pair of conference games on Saturday, 27. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.