LAKELAND, Fla. – After being held in check through three games, the Endicott baseball team erupted for 23 runs over two games on Tuesday. Along the way, they picked up their first win of the season and helped Head Coach Bryan Haley collect his 100th career win in the Endicott dugout. The Gulls crushed Fitchburg State 14-3 in their first game before falling to St. Joseph's of Maine 11-9.
Game Two - St. Joe's (Maine) 11, Endicott 9
The Gulls fell behind 11-0 after the top of the fifth inning and mounted a furious comeback attempt, including scoring seven runs in the final three frames, but came up just short.
Held in check for the first half of the game, the Gulls got their bats going in the bottom of the fifth when they scored two runs on RBI base knocks by Connor Ressel (Rockport, Mass.) and Danny Mello (Peabody, Mass.). Ressel, who had a 2-3 day, added an RBI triple in the seventh inning, coming in to score in that frame and again in the ninth inning on an RBI double by Michael Cahill (Plymouth, Mass.). Mello, who was one of four Gulls with two hits, added his second RBI when he followed Cahill's double with a base hit that scored EJ Martinez (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
Martinez and Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) each had multiple hits in the game and each knocked in and scored a run. Russo, like Cahill, came on in a pinch hitting appearance and drove in a run before scoring himself.
Sophomore Steven Carter (Brunswick, Maine) had a rough outing, going just three and two-thirds of an inning and surrendering six runs on twelve hits. Freshman Zac Poland (Essex Junction, Vt.) did a nice job in relief, pitching three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four batters.
The Monks scored a single run in the third inning to get on the board then had back-to-back five run frames in the fourth and fifth innings, knocking a combined 12 base hits. Alex Lorenc (Nanuet, N.Y.) got the rally started by blasting a two-run home run in the fourth inning, which was followed by five straight singles and a bases-loaded walk to Alex Markakis (Lynnfield, Mass.).
One of those RBI singles was by junior first baseman Mike Pratt (Dartmouth, Mass.), who went 4-4 in the game with three RBIs and a run scored. Pratt doubled to left-center in the fifth inning and came on to score on an RBI single by Markakis.
Lorenc was 2-3 with two runs and two runs batted in, while catcher Joe Coyne (Duxbury, Mass.) was 3-3 with a RBI, while also crossing the plate twice.
The Gulls will return to the field on Thursday at 9:00 am when they play a single game against the Owls of Keene State College.
Game 1 – Endicott 14, Fitchburg State 3
Endicott scored twelve runs over the last five innings including six runs in the eighth, which featured EJ Martinez's (Brooklyn, N.Y.) two-run homer, the first round tripper of the season for the Gulls. Martinez had a 3-4 day, scoring twice in addition to his two RBIs. Three more singles by the Gulls following Martinez's homer, the third a two-run hit up the middle by Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.), added to the Endicott lead.
Endicott's one through five hitters combined for 10 hits, twelve runs and nine RBI's . Daniel Mello (Peabody, Mass.) scored four runs from the leadoff spot after being on base four times, three of them after getting plunked by a pitch from the Falcons Staff. Endicott was hit with five pitches on the day and was not stagnant on the base-paths, stealing four bases.
Brendan Pittsley (Plympton, Mass.), pitched six innings, allowing just one earned run and striking out three. Tyler Hill (Plymouth, Mass.) and Connor McLaughlin (Clinton, Mass.) each pitched scoreless innings in relief, while three Gulls came on to record outs in the ninth. Endicott pitchers recorded eight K's and just one walk on the afternoon.
The Gulls got off to a hot start in the first scoring two runs sparked by Mello's leadoff double and RBI hits by Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.) and Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.)
Catcher Matt Zajac (New Hartford, Conn.) had three hits in the game for Fitchburg State, who got single run in the first and second inning to tie the game up at two. The game would stay that way until the fifth inning when Mello would score an unearned run on a wild pitch. An inning later, Robert Goldstick (Deerfield, Ill.) had an RBI single that drove Falcons pitcher Frank Yavorosky (Westminster, Mass.) from the game. Yavorosky and the Fitchburg State pitching staff struck out five Gulls and did not issue a walk, but were touched up for 18 hits on the afternoon.
Gold and designated hitter Eric Lemke (Southington, Conn.) were ach 3-6 with two runs scored, while Gold picked up three RBI's along the way. Oringer drove in two runs, as did senior pinch hitter John Halsey (Reading, Mass.), who smacked a two-run double in the ninth inning before Gold's RBI single capped the Endicott slugfest.
Haley, now in his fourth year in the Gulls dugout, has a career record of 100-76. Last season he took the Gulls to the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) finals and captured the ECAC New England baseball championship.
Fitchburg will be back in action tomorrow at 4:00 pm against Vassar College.