Endicott's championship hopes thwarted by Western New England

Springfield, Mass. – Needing two victories over the \#2 seed Endicott, the top-seeded Western New England Golden Bears did just that, beating the Gulls 5-4 in both games one and two to capture their fourth straight TCCC title.

\#1 Western New England 5, \#2 Endicott 4 (Game Two)

Boxscore

Endicott (30-15) put runners on first and second base with no outs in their final at bat down only one, but was unable to plate the game-tying run. Six different players recorded at least two hits with senior captain Chris Dominguez (Braintree, Mass.) leading the charge with a 3-for-5 day at the plate with two RBI. The Gulls had 15 hits as a team.

Endicott put themselves ahead 2-0 with runs in the top of the third and fourth innings. Dominguez drove home junior catcher Robbie Goldstick (Deerfield, Ill.) with a single up in the middle in the third then sophomore Mike Griffin (Arlington, Mass.) found the outfield grass in left field to score Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.) who had reached on a double earlier in the inning.

The Golden Bears (38-9) came right back in the bottom of the fourth with two runs to even the score at 2-2. Mike Taylor’s (Andover, Mass.) infield single and Casey Dadio (Branford, Conn.) hit up the middle both brought in runs for the home team. Both runs were charged to Endicott’s starting pitcher Mike Nich (Orange, Conn.) who went 3 2/3 innings on the mound.

Western New England’s two runs in the bottom of the fourth was the first of three straight innings in which the Golden Bears scored runs. In the fifth, sophomore Matt Anthonis (Guilford, Conn.) singled home a run and in the sixth, Andrew Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) and Tim Clark (West Springfield, Mass.) both had RBI doubles to push the Golden Bears lead to 5-2.

The Blue and Green got runs back in the top of the seventh and the top of the eight to pull within a run. In the seventh, freshman centerfielder Tad Gold (Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.) had an infield single that brought home Eric Lemke (Southington, Conn.) from third. The next inning saw Dominguez get his second RBI of the game on a single to left field that brought home Goldstick for the second time in the game.

The Gulls started off the top of the ninth with back-to-back singles by Jake Northrup (Boxborough, Mass.) and Sitarz, but after a fly out to center the game and the tournament would end on 6-4-3 double play.

Gulls sophomore Kevin Dupras (Belchertown, Mass.) pitched 2 2/3 innings of one-hit ball with a strikeout, but freshman Drew Dumas (Holden, Mass.) took the loss to fall to 2-1 on the season. Western New England’s Evan Michaud (Windsor Locks, Conn.) was effective in relief, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits and a walk while striking out four to improve to 7-0.

\#1 Western New England 5, \#2 Endicott 4 (Game One)

Boxscore

The Blue and Green (30-14) scored once in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead, but the \#1 seed Western New England (37-9) rallied to score the game-tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh and eighth innings to win 5-4 over the \#2 seed Endicott. The victory for the Golden Bears forced a winner-take-all, game two to decide the 2011 TCCC Baseball Championship.

Endicott second baseman Eric Lemke (Southington, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Danny Mello (Peabody, Mass.) in the top of the first to put the Gulls up 1-0. Mello had doubled to lead off the game and advanced to third on a groundout.

In the top of the second, Endicott put runners on second and third base with one out when junior outfielder Mike Russo (Natick, Mass.) grounded out to second base to bring home Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.) from third.

The Gulls added their third run of the ball game in the top of the third inning on a RBI single to center by freshman Jake Northrup (Boxborough, Mass.) that scored captain Chris Dominguez (Braintree, Mass.).

Endicott’s starting pitcher, sophomore Brendan Pittsley (Plympton, Mass.) cruised through the first two innings until the Golden Bears trimmed to Gulls lead down to 3-1 on an infield error that plated sophomore Kyle McKelvey (Schenectady, N.Y.) from third base. Pittsley would surrender another unearned run on a Mike Taylor (Andover, Mass.) line out to right that scored Western New England’s second run of the game.

Pittsley pitched into the fifth inning, leaving runners on first and third with one out for Benjamin Petrides (Belchertown, Mass.). Pittsley finished with a line of 4 1/3 innings pitched, three runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks with a strikeout. The third run charged to Pittsley was due to a sacrifice fly on the first batter Petrides faced that brought home the runner from third base.

Now tied 3-3 going into the sixth inning, the Gulls responded in a big way as Northrup crushed a homerun to left field to put Endicott up 4-3. The homerun was Northrup’s fourth of the season. He finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored.

The Golden Bears even the score at four runs apiece in the bottom of the seventh on a Matt Anthonis (Guilford, Conn.) RBI single to right field. Western New England took the lead for good in the bottom half of the next inning on a single through the right side of the infield by sophomore Tim Clark (West Springfield, Mass.).

Western New England went on to win 5-4 as Mike Lawlor (Windsor, Conn.) pitched five innings of relief to get the win. Lawlor (3-1) struck out five while allowing just one run on two hits with no walks. Gulls junior Mike Nich (Orange, Conn.) took the loss, falling to 6-4 on the season. Nich went 1 1/3 innings, giving up one unearned run on two hits with one strikeout.