The Bison sent senior Jack Dicenso to the hill, who hurled an impressive five innings, giving up zero hits on five strikeouts, and two walks. Nichols (1-0) got the bats rolling early, with three first inning runs, with freshman Brad Ellis collecting his first collegiate hit, a double to left scoring senior Kyle Bouchard from second to give the Bison the early 1-0 lead. Junior Nathaniel Cormier then singled to center two at bats later to drive in Ellis from second. Nichols topped off the first inning barrage when Dean's Matt Callahan bobbled a grounder which led to freshman Will Kleinhenz scoring from third.

Nichols added another run in the second inning with a double from sophomore DJ Caron, scoring Cormier to give the Bison a 4-0 lead. Later on, in the fourth inning, senior Christian Naccari doubled to deep left-center, picking up his first RBI of the season to extend the Bison's lead to 5-0.

The Bulldogs (0-1) recorded their first hit, and run in the sixth inning with a sacrifice bunt from Brian Hadden, which scored Thomas Troy. Dean scored one more run in the eighth inning, off a double from Hadden giving him two RBI on the day. The Bison went on to add six more runs over the next three innings to take the 11-2 season opening victory. The Bison saw Naccari, Cormier, and Kleinhenz all pick up two RBI in the game, while Bouchard crossed the plate four times.

Three things you need to know…
-The Bison open up the season with a win for the second time in the past three years.
-The Bison pitchers went 5.0 innings before giving up their first hit.
-Today's game marked the first ever meeting between the two programs.
 
Next Game
Tuesday, March 3 vs Eastern Conn. St., 2:30 p.m.