Gulls Stopped by Leopards in Tournament Opener

BEVERLY, Mass. – Second seeded Endicott was handed their first loss in ten outings and sent to the brink of elimination in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) baseball tournament on Thursday afternoon with a 5-1 defeat at the hands of #5 Wentworth.

The Gulls (28-12) will now have to claw their way up from the loser's bracket, while Wentworth improves to 16-15 on the season and continues with an unblemished mark in the double-elimination tournament.

Senior Alex Wong (Lewiston, Maine) pitched a complete game for the Leopards, improving to 3-0 on the year after allowing just one run and striking out four. Wong also went 1-for-4 at the plate, scoring a run and driving one in. He defeated Endicott senior Tyler Hitchcock (Abington, Mass.) who fell to 7-1 on the season on the day he was named CCC Pitcher of the Year.

Each team collected six hits in the affair, but it was an RBI groundout by Wentworth second baseman Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.) in a two-run third that proved to drive in the winning run. Hulme had a 2-for-3 game and added insurance with a two-run single in the eighth that just got by the dive of Endicott second baseman Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.).

Oringer had two hits in the game himself and scored the only run for Endicott, coming across on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to cut the lead in half. Oringer had delivered a one-out single up the middle, then advanced to third on a two-out double down the left field line by left fielder Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.), who also went 2-for-4 in the loss.

The Leopards grabbed the lead in the top of the third when shortstop Jon Spitz doubled down the left field line and Wong scored him with a triple to right field. Wong would double the visitor's lead in the next at-bat as he and Hulme executed a suicide squeeze, with Hulme getting a bunt down as Wong broke for home plate.

The Gulls cut the lead in half, but Wentworth added three more runs in the top of the eighth, with Ryan Delgado (Wareham, Mass.) getting hit by a pitch and being replaced by Paul Dassau (Franklin, Mass.) with a fielder's choice. Spitz hit a tough hopper to third base that ended up as an infield single, and Hulme hit a line drive that Oringer almost made a leaping catch on, but it ended up in left field to score two runs. Hulme then came around to score from first on a single to left center by catcher Jake Mailman (Medway, Mass.).

Brett Holmgren (Middleboro, Mass.) and Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) collected the other base knocks for the Gulls, who had two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn't force any more runs across.

Wong threw 108 pitches in the complete game, 71 of them for strikes, as he did not walk a batter on the afternoon. Hitchcock walked two and collected four strikeouts, but was tagged for the five earned runs.

Endicott will be home again on Friday afternoon for an 3:00 pm elimination game against 6^th seeded Curry College. Curry was defeated by top-seeded Western New England 11-0 this afternoon, and fell to Endicott by scores of 8-2 and 2-0 in the regular season.

The Leopards will travel to the winner of the #3-#4 game between Roger Williams and Salve Regina, while the loser of that game is on the road against WNE.