RINDGE, N.H. – After staving off elimination on Friday afternoon, the New Haven baseball team needed to take two from the Franklin Pierce Ravens on their own field and they did just that, earning the program's first Northeast-10 Conference title since 2017. With the win, New Haven earns the automatic bid to the upcoming NCAA Division II Championship with regional round game starting this coming week. The 2024 title for the Chargers also comes 11 years, to the day, from the Chargers first Northeast-10 Conference Championship in 2013.
In the opening game the Ravens broke through first with a single run in the fourth inning before New Haven answered in the next half inning with an RBI fielder's choice from Matt McIntire (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown). Two runs were able to score on that with the ball getting away as the Ravens looked to turn two. Overall for the game, McIntire drove in three runs, plating two more on a double to right center in the seventh as the Chargers took the lead for good. Aiden Forde added one more run in the night on a sacrifice fly.
Leading the way at the plate for the Chargers was centerfielder Nick Ungania (Mineola, N.Y./Chaminade) who went 3-for-5 as the Chargers finished the game with five total hits. On the mound it was Liam Carroll (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) who earned the start and three five innings, surrendering three runs to the Ravens. Out of the pen, Jafar Vohra (Shelton, Conn./Shelton) earned the victory pitching four scoreless innings. Overall, he allowed two hits and struck out four, combing with Carroll to fan eight total Ravens in the game.
In the winner take all finale, it was a back and forth battle until the sixth inning when a Shaun Callahan (Newington, Conn./Newington) double to left center plated two runs and the Chargers never looked back from there. Franklin Pierce got on the board first with a pair of runs in the first inning. It wasn't until the third inning that New Haven scored, however they pushed four runs across for the first lead change of the game. Highlighting that frame was the bat of McIntire who's big fly drove in two runs to tie the game, Cole Maucere (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) and Joseph Frazzetta (Howard Beach, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) followed with RBI hits to extend the Charger lead.
After the Ravens regained the lead in the top of the sixth it was Callahan's double that flipped the score back in favor of New Haven. Ungania would add one more to the scoreboard in the seventh on a double through the left side, while Franklin Pierce was only able to muster one additional run as the bullpen effort from NE10 Championship MVP Michael Gatti (East Norwich, N.Y./Oyster Bay) closed out the game with the sophomore earning his second victory of the weekend.
In addition to Gatti, two other Chargers earned a spot on the All-Championship team as he was joined by Callahan and McIntire.
New Haven will now await the official announcement from the NCAA with a location and opponent in the NCAA East Regionals which will be held at the campus sites of the two highest seeded teams in the regional bracket. The winners of each regional bracket will advance to a Super Regional with the winner of that earning a spot in the NCAA Division II College World Series.
