WAKE AND RAKE: Endicott, Baldwin Wallace slug into Super Regionals Friday at noon

May 27—Two teams very capable of turning any baseball game into a track meet — an up-and-down, runaway high-scoring affair — battle for a spot in the Division 3 College World Series this weekend in the NCAA Super Regional at Endicott College.

In the case of the Gulls' relentless offensive approach, that track metaphor is no accident.

"The major reason why we're relentless is when we go through the order, we're just passing the baton down to each guy," Endicott captain Joe Millar explained. "Every guy has a job, everyone does their job and we slowly tack things on until there's a big inning. Because we can pass that baton on, we never really feel like there's any pressure on us individually."

The No. 16 ranked Gulls (40-8) and No. 18 Baldwin Wallace of Ohio (35-11) bring two of the most explosive offenses in all of Division 3 college baseball to this weekend's best-of-three series. Endicott's 71 total home runs ranked fifth in the nation and Baldwin Wallace isn't far off with 69 blasts.

In terms of total offense, the Yellow Jackets are 7th nationally in runs with 465 (over 10 per game) and Endicott ranks 13th averaging 8.9.

"We hoped we'd have a special team coming back this year," captain Matt McKinley said. "We didn't know it would be quite this special."

Game 1 takes place on Friday at noon followed by Game 2 at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The if-necessary Game 3 will be played 45 minutes after Game 2 ends, approximately 3 p.m. The opportunity to host a Super Regional is an incredible one for Endicott, which has been on the road for each of its previous NCAA regional appearances.

Last weekend, the Gulls travelled to Cortland, New York, and beat the top-seed and host SUNY Cortland twice to win a regional for the first time in program history. Their opponent, Baldwin Wallace, was also a No. 2 seed in its regional and the NCAA determined Endicott would host the Super Regional round.

"It's awesome. To have our turf and a lot of our fans, to be sleeping at home with a chance to go to the World Series? We're fired up," said McKinley, pointing out that Endicott's defense ranks 2nd nationally in fielding percentage and their home turf is a big part of that.

Endicott is an incredible 22-1 at home in 2022 and hasn't lost on its oceanside campus since March with 19 straight home wins. Their 40 wins are already a program record for head coach Bryan Haley, who has 386 wins and led Endicott to two Regional finals in 2013-14 before breaking through this year.

"Sometimes I can't believe we're 50 games in," said Millar, highlighting the culture the Gulls have built that helps them win any style of ball game. "We all lived together for 10 days in Florida and that brings out the personalities. We're all very close. It's about just going out there, having fun and competing for one another rather than yourself."

The regional title game was a perfect example of that. Endicott bashed Cortland, 16-3, to force the if-necessary game but trailed 5-2 late. Nick Notarangelo hit a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth and all of a sudden the Gulls were flying to the next round.

"We trust each other and our coaches trust us. We stick to our approach and hunt the pitches we're looking for. They trust us to get it done," said McKinley, a graduate student pursuing an M.B.A.

"(Assistant coach Harry Oringer) always says stick to us, our game. He says 'F squared: Focus and fun.' We've got a loose culture on the bench, too, with guys always behind us. They're the ultimate team guys and kind of our unsung MVPs."

Haley and Oringer have emphasized video work and cage work to bring the best out of Endicott's batting order. All five of the team's regulars hitting over .300 (Dylan Pacheco, Caleb Shpur, Notorangelo, John Mulready and Jake Nardone) are also slugging over .500; 11 players have at least one homer.

"It's effort. The coaches put in extreme time to make us the best versions of ourselves," said Mulready, an All-Commonwealth Coast Conference catcher from Peabody with 12 homers batting .340.

"It's extremely contagious, too. All it takes is one guy and it becomes a hit parade. One guy gets a big hit and everybody follows suit."

Mulready, who won a state title with St. Mary's Lynn in 2019, had a breakout season behind the dish for Endicott. Amazingly, he caught every single pitch of the five game regional last weekend, receiving 719 offerings without an error.

"I feel great ... and that regional championship makes any aches or pains all worth while," said Mulready. "All the work to get ready for those kinds of innings starts over the winter. It's about taking care of yourself and our strength and conditioning program at Endicott is special. The athletic trainers are top notch. Anything we need, they're there for us."

Pitching wise, Endicott's team earned run average is 3.28. Gabe Van Emon is the lefthanded ace at 8-0 on the year while sophomore Nicholas Cannata is 6-0 and juniors Rian Schwede and Ian Parent are inning eaters. Freshman John Connolly has played a big role, as has Max Tarlin, and at this time of year any team needs a reliable stable of arms.

"An immense amount of guys have stepped up," said Mulready. "All the work they've put in has been evident all year long."

Jake Nardone is one of three Gulls with more than 50 RBI on the year and Kyle Grabowski and Nick Perkins are other bats to keep an eye on.

Amazingly, Endicott's baseball team is the sixth program in the school's history to make an NCAA Sweet 16. The women's soccer, men's volleyball, men's basketball, men's hockey and women's hockey made it that far — and the baseball Gulls would love to add some history to that with a World Series trip.

"It's such a huge opportunity for us. Playing at home with a chance to go to the World Series? You can't ask for a better moment," said Millar, who tied for the lead in playoff RBI with nine. "No matter how big the series is, you have to take it one game at a time. We have to go out there and do our thing."

"We're trying not to think about it, but we know we're two wins from Iowa," McKinley added. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We need to play within our culture and do our work."