Gulls continue playoff push, sweep AMCats
April 19, 2009
Box Score - Game One / Box Score - Game Two
BEVERLY, Mass. - Entering the final week of the regular season, the Endicott baseball team looks poised to make a playoff run as the Gulls took a pair from Anna Maria College, 7-4 & 5-1, on Sunday afternoon on North Field in Beverly, Mass. The Blue and Green have now won seven of their last eight to improve to 14-18 overall and 9-9 in league play. The pair of setbacks drop the AMCats to 12-22-1 (8-10 TCCC).
The opening inning of game one featured offensive fireworks as Anna Maria quickly loaded the bases and jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of sacrifice flies by Jeff Scafidi (Worcester, Mass.) and Jim McNamara (Worcester, Mass.). Starter Nick Kelley (Malden, Mass.) would eventually get out of the jam as he got the AMC catcher Jeff Kodys (Holden, Mass.) to ground out to short to end the inning.
The lead would be short-lived, however, as the Gulls' Aaron Santos (Cambridge, Mass.) led off the bottom of the first with a solo blast over the centerfield fence to make it 2-1. Endicott would score twice more in the frame as Alex Judge (Wilton, Conn.) connected on an RBI single up the middle and then Brian Andersen (Grafton, Mass.) scored on an AMCats' error to give EC a 3-1 lead.
After a scoreless second, the visitors retook the lead with a two run third, only to have the Gulls knot the game at 4-4 in the home half of the same inning. The four runs for Anna Maria would be all they'd score, as junior Matt Sharon (Wallingford, Vt.) relieved Nick Kelley after 2.2 innings of work to shutdown the AMCats' offense. Sharon took the ball and proceeded to strike out six of the first eight batters he faced as he blanked the guests in his 4.1 innings, surrendering just three hits while striking out seven.
The Gulls scored twice in the fourth inning and then tacked on a seventh run in the fifth to secure the 7-4 win. Alex Judge went 2-for-3 in game one while driving in two runs in the win. Aaron Santos scored twice and also had two RBI for the hosts. AMC's James McNamara went 2-for-2 with three runs batted in.
In game two, the Gulls continued the offense as Endicott scored four times in the first two innings including a three run second. An RBI double from Aaron Santos followed by an RBI single from Andrew Betts (Bristol, Conn.) got the rally started. Betts would eventually score as he stole second and was then plated by a single through the right side by Roberto Zapata (Boston, Mass.) to give Endicott a 4-1 lead.
The Gulls then added a run in the fifth inning as Santos reached on a throwing error by the AMCats' first baseman. A sacrifice bunt by Betts moved Santos into scoring position where he eventually came around to score as the visitors committed yet another miscue to allow the run to score.
The 5-1 lead was all Mike Nich (Amity, Conn.) would need as the freshman righty tossed a complete game, allowing just one run on eight hits over seven innings while striking out five. Sunday's pitching effort was exactly what the Gulls needed as head coach Bryan Haley only needed to use a total of three pitchers in 14 innings.
Santos finished game two with a hit, an RBI and three runs scored. The first four batters in the Endicott lineup all had an RBI in the second game.
The Gulls step out of conference play on Tuesday when they travel to face Bridgewater State College for a 3:30 start time with the Bears. Anna Maria has two crucial TCCC games against Nichols College on Wednesday in Dudley, Mass. beginning at 2:00 p.m.