Gulls Hold Leopards at Bay, Improve to 9-3 in CCC

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BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott Gulls earned a weekend sweep of their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) baseball home stand with two victories over Wentworth Institute of Technology on Sunday at North Field.

The Gulls beat the Leopards 5-2 in the first game, then scored a late run in the second contest for a 4-3 victory, extending their win streak to five games and improving their record to 16-13 (9-3 CCC).

The Leopards have dropped three out of four CCC matchups this weekend and see both their conference (6-6) and overall records (15-15) even up.

Game 2

Colin Sitarz (W. Hartford, Conn.) scored from second base on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning to break a 3-3 tie and deliver the game-winning run for Endicott.

Freshman Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.) had two doubles and drove in two runs and Endicott got a solid pitching performance from senior Mike Nich (Orange, Conn.).

Endicott took a 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout by center fielder Tad Gold (Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.) in the first, but the visitors, who outhit the Gulls 9-5, grabbed three runs in the top of the second.

Wentworth junior Alex Wong (Lewiston, Maine) led the second inning scoring with a two-run double down the left field line after Paul Dassau (Franklin, Mass.) had delivered an RBI single.

The Gulls tied the game thanks to doubles in the second and fourth, both off the bat of Oringer, who brought home shortstop E.J. Martinez (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and then Sitarz.

Nich improved to 4-1 on the year after throwing six innings and allowing just two earned runs while striking out three and not issuing a walk.  

John Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn.) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to earn his third save of the year.

Dakota Baird (Bermuda Dunes, Calif.) pitched five and a third innings but it was his wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth that skipped up the third base line and allowed Sitarz to plate the winning run on a great heads-up play by the Endicott first baseman.

Baird, who allowed five hits and one walk, falls to 1-4 on the season.

Game 1

In the first game, Endicott erased a 1-0 Wentworth lead with three runs in the bottom of the third inning, and then added two insurance runs in the sixth.

Designated hitter Eric Lemke (Southington, Conn.) and Sitarz each smacked run-producing singles in the bottom of the third, with Sitarz picking up two RBIs as Lemke and third basemen Danny Mello (Peabody, Mass.) came in to score.

Endicott added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth when Harry Oringer scored on an error by the shortstop Conner Flisnik (Marcy, N.Y.).

Left fielder Michael Russo (Natick, Mass.), who reached on Flisnik’s error, crossed the plate later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by right fielder Conor Ressel (Rockport, Mass.).

Wentworth managed just two hits against Endicott pitching, led by starter Brendan Pittsley (Plympton, Mass.), who improved to 2-3 with the victory. Also throwing well for the Gulls were Tyler Hitchcock (Abington, Mass.) and Connor McLaughlin (Clinton, Mass.), who combined for three and two-thirds innings of one-hit ball.

McLaughlin struck out three batters in 1.2 innings while earning his first save of the year.

Wong, who pitched a complete game for Wentworth and batted leadoff in the first game, fell to 2-3 by allowing five runs, three of them earned, on five hits and two walks. Wong also picked up four strikeouts and went 1-3 at the plate.

Dassau scored both of Wentworth’s runs in the first game, and both came on out-making plays. In the third inning it was an RBI groundout by Jon Spitz (Hanover, Mass.) that plated Dassau, while the center fielder came in on a sacrifice fly by Flisnik in the fifth.

Endicott will travel to Southern Maine on Wednesday for a 3:30 pm non-conference tilt with the Huskies.

The Leopards play at the same time at Babson Park in another out of conference game against the Beavers.