Crusaders swing to double-header sweep
April 1, 2009
QUINCY, Mass. - The Endicott College baseball team dropped a pair of TCCC games against Eastern Nazarene at Adams Field in Quincy, Mass. on Wednesday afternoon. Eastern Nazarene stole the pair of double-header games with scores of 11-5 and 12-1. The Gulls drop to 7-11 (2-4 TCCC) while the Crusaders improve to 12-8 (4-4 TCCC) this season.
In game one, seven singles led to six runs in the first inning as the Crusaders chased the Endicott starter from the mound. The Crusaders tacked on three more runs in the third as a two-RBI triple by Victor Torres (Bronx, N.Y.) accounted for the first two while the following batter, Justin Denbow (Readfield, Maine), singled Torres home for the 9-0 lead.
In the fourth, the Crusaders added another two runs as Nate Leaser (Solana Beach, Calif.) and Dave Dickerson (North Plainfield, N.J.) reached base on singles before Johan Villalona (Bronx, N.Y.) doubled them home for the Crusaders 11-0 lead.
Endicott struck for four runs in the fourth as leadoff Brian Andersen (Grafton, Mass.) doubled on and then was sent home by Benjamin Petrides (Belchertown, Mass.) single. After a walk, Andrew Betts (Bristol, Conn.) hit a two-RBI single and then himself was knocked in on a fielder's choice to make the score 11-4.
In the fifth, Endicott added another run off of a Joe Klein (Monroe, Conn.) double that sent Brian Andersen home but the Gulls could not get another across. Eastern Nazarene's Steve Oehlschlaeger (Dallas, Texas) came in to pitch the top of the seventh and finished the game off in eleven pitches.
Crusader Gregg Olson (San Diego, Calif.) threw for five innings and gave up six hits while striking out three and walked four to improve to 3-1 on the season. Endicott's Michael Drinkwater (Hamilton, Mass.) falls to 0-3 on the season.
Game two started off in the same manner as the Crusaders jumped on the Gulls starter and produced five runs before the first inning was over.
The Gulls got one back in the fourth on a Michael Russo (Natick, Mass.) single and then a hard hit RBI double by Joe Klein sending Russo home, but the Crusaders responded with six more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Torres hit his second single of the game, then stole third after moving to second on a Justin Denbow single and eventually scored on an Anthony Melendez (Yonkers, N.Y.) single. A hit by pitch and four singles later, the Crusaders had pushed another four runs in to blow the game open at 11-1.
The Crusaders scored another in the fifth as Torres doubled and Denbow tripled to drive home Torres for the final runs of the game.
Crusader starter Jeffrey Hostos (Bronx, N.Y.) earned the win while pitching five innings of four hit ball, striking out six and walking four and goes to 3-1. The Gulls' Matt Sharon (Wallingford, VT) falls to 1-2 on the season.
For the day at the plate, Jimmy Williams (Truckee, Calif.) led the Crusaders while going 4-for-6 with a walk, four RBI and three runs scored. Teammate Victor Torres went 5-for-8 with two doubles and a triple, three RBI's, two stolen bases and four runs scored. Johan Villalona went 4-for-7 with a double, three RBI's and two runs scored and Justin Denbow was 4-for-8 with a double, a triple, three RBI's and two runs scored.
Gulls Joe Klein led Endicott as he went 2-for-4 on the day with a double and a RBI. Roberto Zapata (Boston, Mass.) went 2-for-6 with a pair of walks and teammate Brian Andersen also went 2-for-6 with a double and two runs scored.
The Gulls return to action on Saturday when they host Curry College in another TCCC double-header on April 4th at noon. Eastern Nazarene hosts Suffolk University tomorrow, April 2nd at Adams Field in Quincy, Mass. at 3:30 pm.