Sure, the Endicott College baseball team could have won a few more games. The Gulls would’ve loved to have stayed in Iowa for a few more days.
Not long after failing to win a game at the Division 3 College World Series, though, Endicott was looking at its first-ever run to college baseball’s grandest stage in the proper context. No team that wins the most games in a program’s history should use the word failure at the end of the run.
“There were tears shed, lots of hugs and lots of emotion. Realistically, we know it ends that way for most teams … six more teams here will feel this and only one gets that final dogpile,” said head coach Bryan Haley, acknowledging the role high-level college sports plays in preparing his student-athletes for their careers and the next phase of their lives.
“Feeling these feelings of loss, and I guess failure, is good for us as people,” he said. “Some of the best leaders in this world are student-athletes like my guys who have dealt with this sort of thing. Because life is hard.”
Between the lines, run prevention proved hard in Endicott’s two games in the double-elimination World Series. Saturday’s elimination game against Misericordia got away from them when they allowed multiple runs in four of the eight defensive innings. The Gulls led 2-0, 4-3, and it was 4-4 before the Cougars plated three in the fifth with a bunt by Brendan Gray turning into an in-the-park homer after an error, making it 7-4.
The Gulls’ Nic Notarangelo doubled and scored in the seventh to cut it to 7-5, and his team loaded the bases aiming to tie it up or take the lead. A rare pitching change in the middle of a two-strike count with two outs by the Cougars led to a rally-killing strikeout, though, and after extending the lead in the bottom half Misericordia never looked back.
The Gulls used seven pitchers in Friday’s World Series opening loss to Baldwin Wallace Friday and ran out eight more hurlers on Saturday. They weren’t able to limit the damage enough to extend an historic season that ends at 45-10, with the school’s first-ever Super Regional title and the highest ever national ranking at No. 4.
“There’s a great sense of accomplishment with this group,” said Haley. “It’s one of my favorites of all time. I know this feeling of loss will dissipate pretty quickly.”
Outfielders Joey Millar and Caleb Shpur (an All-American who will play as a graduate student at Division 1 UConn next spring) were the unquestioned leaders for Endicott baseball teams that went 85-20 over the last two seasons. They were the perfect messengers to implement Haley and associate coach Harry Oringer’s ‘fun and focused’ culture of togetherness and support for a roster that includes more than 50 players.
“Right after the game I told the guys to stay close with one another. The relationships we built this year were special, and if they continue to build on those they’ll see a lot of success,” Millar said. “I can’t wait to see where this program goes.”
TJ Liponis, a freshman, made a couple of big league plays at shortstop in the World Series and had the highlight of Saturday’s game with his 2-run blast over the left field wall. Danny MacDougall, a sophomore, was Endicott’s best hitter in Iowa with six hits and eight RBI in two games.
“Jumping in as a freshman, you felt accepted right away,” said Liponis. “The team culture has been great all year and it’ll continue to be great.”
Junior catcher John Mulready of Peabody had two hits Saturday and Notarangelo, also a junior, had two doubles. No doubt they’ll be two of the Gulls’ leaders next season tasked with extending the culture that Millar and Shpur in turn extended from their underclass days.
“Everything the guys before us did for this program, culture-wise, I’m glad we were able to continue it,” said Shpur, “and I know these guys will be able to continue that, too.”
The World Series tripped capped a remarkable school year for Endicott athletics that saw seven programs reach the NCAA playoffs: baseball, softball, men’s and women’s hockey, women’s tennis, women’s volleyball and football. The school hosted NCAA playoff games in football, baseball (the Super Regional) and men’s hockey while also putting its Beverly campus on the map by hosting the Division 3 men’s Frozen Four when the Gulls made their first-ever national semifinal appearance.
The connective tissue between all those programs, and the similarity of cultures spearheaded by athletic director Brian Wylie, is impossible to miss.
“Endicott is a really special place,” said Haley. “All the coaches love each other and take care of each other. I can’t tell you how many texts of support I got from fellow coaches, administrations, just people around Beverly. Everybody gets behind each other’s teams; that’s something I’ll never forget.”
It’s hard to learn much immediately from Saturday’s game since the next one is seven months away, Haley noted. But the lessons of a 2023 season led Endicott to the nation’s best earned run average in the regular season, a slew of school records, 45 wins and the College World Series, are already apparent.
“It’s the best season in Endicott baseball history,” Haley said. “It may never be topped. We’ll see … we’re going to try like heck to beat it.”