Auburn, NY (May 24, 2025) – The fifth seeded Northern Essex Community College baseball team dropped a 12-2 decision in the opening round of the NJCAA World Series on Saturday evening to fourth seeded Dallas College- Richland. The Knights record dropped to 32-9 on the season and they will face elimination on Sunday afternoon when they take on top seeded SUNY Niagara at 12:45pm.
The Knights jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning before the Thunderducks came back with 12 unanswered runs to secure the victory and move on in the winners bracket of the tournament.
Jaren Megan (Fairhaven) led the game off with a base hit to right field and picked up his 42nd stolen base of the season with an out before Manny Castro (Manchester, NH) crushed a two-out homerun off the scoreboard in left center field that gave the Knights a 2-0 lead and their only runs of the game.
After getting out of the inning, Dallas would respond with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the first inning before adding seven more runs combined in the third and fourth innings.
Jack Sarno (Byfield) started on the mound for the Knights and was relieved in the third inning following seven hits and nine runs off the Thunderducks bats.
NECC and Niagara will meet in the World Series for the second time in the last three seasons as the Knights knocked of Niagara in a 2023 elimination round game.