Baseball finishes fourth at World Series

Niagara County Community College finished fourth at last week's double-elimination NJCAA Division III World Series at Pioneer Park in Greeneville, Tenn. The Thunderwolves finished the 2023 spring season with a 44-7 overall record.

Niagara CCC 5, Camp CC 1

Sophomore pitcher Ryan Birchard improved to 8-0 on the year as he tossed six scoreless innings in the tournament opener. The right-hander also had 12 strikeouts. Classmate Kyle Finn picked up a three-inning save. Sophomores Conner Hoehman and Owen Stevenson along with freshman Matthew Procopio each had two hits. Sophomore Alex Minnehan and the freshman duo of Riley Loomis and Steven Merkel each drove in a run.

Dallas College Eastfield 10, Niagara CCC 1 (7 inn.)

The T-Wolves mustered just five hits as freshman Brendan Morse suffered his first loss of the season in the quarterfinal round. Freshman Andrew Stillinger drove in sophomore Mitchell Holtz for N'Trip's lone run.

Niagara CCC 7, St. Cloud Tech & CC 1

Sophomore Andrew Bench struck out six in a complete-game effort as head coach Matt Clingersmith earned his 600th career victory and NCCC staved off elimination. Procopio finished 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, Stillinger was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored and Minnehan went 3-for-5. Freshman Nicholas Schulz and Stevenson added two hits apiece.

Northern Essex CC 9, Niagara CCC 8

Schulz went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, but it wasn't enough as NCCC fell behind 9-2 in the early innings of the elimination contest. Procopio was 3-for-4 with two runs, Minnehan went 3-for-5 with an RBI and both Hoehman and Stillinger contributed two hits and an RBI. Sophomore Matthew Sanfilippo threw 3.2 innings of scoreless relief.

*At the conclusion of the tournament, Birchard and Procopio were named to the All-Tournament team.