DUDLEY, Mass. (3/17/24) – Senior Ben Jerome drew a walk with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning to help the Nichols College baseball team walk-off against the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Engineers on Sunday, March 17, from Nichols College Baseball Field in the team's home opener. The Bison topped the Engineers 12-11 to win their fourth straight game.
Senior Johnny Knox was the star of the game for the Bison going 5-6 with a grand slam, a double, and 5 RBI for the day, while making key defensive plays at short stop. Sophomore Dylan Moran and graduate student Will Kleinhenz each added three hits, while Will Nath and Jerome each walked three times for the Bison.
On the mound, junior Clark Churchill (2-0) continued his hot week, grabbing the win in three innings of work out of the bullpen. Churchill fanned three batters and allowed one hit. Freshmen Houston Wills helped the Bison out of a tough spot in the sixth inning, to set up Churchill for the win.
WPI opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. After a double to open the game for the Engineers, they plated their first run of the game, on a single to right center with one out. Nichols responded nicely with a run of their own to even the score after one inning. The Engineers kept their foot on the pedal and scored two more runs in the top of the second inning with a two-run home run.
Jermone helped the Bison cut the lead to one run, as he scored while tagging on a sac fly off the bat of Nath. Nichols trailed 3-2 after three innings of play. Knox evened the score in the fourth inning, when he ripped a single back up the middle and scored junior Karl Miller from third base. Knox then scored after Hyde reached firstbase on a fielder choice and Knox scored on a throw to second base. Nichols led 4-3 after four innings.
After WPI evened the game at 4-4, the Bison exploded for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, capped off with a Knox grand slam to give Nichols a 11-4 lead after five innings. In the top of the sixth inning, WPI added seven runs themselves to pull even once again at 11-11 after six innings.
This game needed extra innings, with both sides deadlocked at 11-11. Nichols was due up in the bottom of the tenth after a top half of the inning, that saw Nichols pick a runner off at second base to remove the chance of a go-ahead runner on base.
Graduate Student Jim Marasco was hit by a pitch to start the inning and then advanced on a failed pick off attempt by the catcher, that saw the ball find its way to the outfield. Miller then singled into the first and second base gap and beat out the throw, placing runners on the corners. Miller stole second to position himself an Marasco in great positions with one out for Knox to bat.
Knox was then intentionally walked to load the bases, with Jerome coming to bat. Jerome worked the count to 3-2, before ball four missed the zone and Jerome walked to end the game, giving Nichols a 12-11 win over the Engineers.
Nichols (6-3) will continue their homestand on Tuesday, March 19, as they face off against Vermont State University – Lyndon for a double header. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. from Nichols College Baseball Field.