BEVERLY, Mass. – The Gulls got seven and two-thirds innings from starter Brendan Pittsley (Plympton, Mass.), who moved to 5-0 on the season and an inning and a third from Kevin Dupras (Belchertown, Mass.), who collected his sixth save of the year, in a 3-0 Senior Day shutout of UMass Boston on Sunday afternoon at North Field.
Pittsley and Dupras were part of a nine person Senior Class that was honored in a ceremony before Sunday's non-conference affair. Other graduating students include Tyler Hitchcock (Abington, Mass.), Robert Goldstick (Deerfield, Ill.), Michael Griffin (Arlington, Mass.), Eric Lemke (Southington, Conn.), Ralph Fidaleo (Fairfield, Conn.) and graduate students Mike Nich (Orange, Conn.) and Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.).
The victory was also the eighth straight for Endicott, who moves to 27-11 on the year. The Gulls have now won 17 of their last 20 games, and improved to 7-0 all-time against the Beacons, who fell to 15-18 on the season.
It was a pitcher's duel for most of the game, as the team's matched zeroes through the first four innings. Endicott got what would end up being the winning run in the fifth when a Goldstick sacrifice fly drove in center fielder Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) for an unearned run after Gold had singled and advanced on an error.
Gold would help provide insurance in the bottom of the seventh, when he singled up the middle to drive in freshman third baseman Matt Paola (Middlebury, Conn.), who had led off the inning with a double. Fidaleo notched an RBI double to left himself to score Gold and give the Gulls all of the offense they would need for their stand-out pitching effort.
UMass Boston closed the game with six hits, as did the Gulls, and the Beacons made the only error in the field. Third baseman Ryan Manning (Plainville, Mass.) was the only member of the Beacons with two hits in the game.
Pittsley and Goldstick also helped themselves out by picking off one runner and gunning center fielder Charles LaPaglia (Marshfield, Mass.) down as he tried to steal second.
Paola and Gold each had two hits in the win for the Gulls, with right fielder Conor Ressel (Rockport, Mass.) grabbing the other base knock.
Pittsley struck out five batters and walked just one, while Dupras also allowed one free pass and collected three strike outs in just an inning and a third.
Starter Nick Radcliffe (Randolph, Mass.) fell to 1-1 despite pitching well for the Becons. Radcliffe allowed all three runs, though just two of them were earned, and struck out four Gulls batters.
The Gulls will end their regular season on Monday afternoon with a 4:00 pm non-conference game against Bates. Endicott will then prepare for Thursday's home game against Wentworth in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) tournament, where they are the #2 seed.
The Beacons have a non-conference regional test ahead of them on Tuesday when they travel to Norton to play Wheaton at 3:30 pm.