Endicott Takes Two From Curry, 3-2 & 18-6

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott baseball team swept a pair of games against Curry College, 3-2 (game one) and 18-6 (game two), on Monday evening to stay undefeated in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Jake Vallely Field.

GAME ONE – Endicott 3, Curry 2 (seven innings)

Davarn Nova (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) notched his third victory of the season in relief for the Gulls on three scoreless innings, one hit, a walk, and two strikeouts. JJ Branch (Milford, Mass.) was dealt the no-decision over four innings of work, five hits, two runs (both earned), one free pass, and two punchouts.

Curry reliever David Griffin (Hanover, Mass.) suffered the loss (3-3) by issuing a two-out walk late in the contest that eventually led to the game-winning run.

In the top of the seventh, Anthony Serina (Portsmouth, R.I.) jump started Endicott's two-out rally as the senior worked a five-pitch walk before Matt Bald (De Pere, Wisc.) came on to pinch-run at first. With a speed threat now on base, Griffin attempted to pick off Bald, but his throw was off the mark and bounced out of play for a two-base error. Chris Seidl (Dracut, Mass.) promptly took advantage of his newfound RBI opportunity and smacked a double to left center to push the Gulls ahead, 3-2.

Curry threatened in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and third and one out, but Nova escaped the jam with a pop out to short and a ground out to third to lock up the victory. Willam De La Cruz (Bronx, N.Y.) led off the frame with a walk, and moved up to second base on a sacrifice bunt prior to Zach Bowden's (Taunton, Mass.) infield single that put runners on the corners with one out.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Nick Berno (St. Albans, Vt.) and Cam Farnham (Andover, Mass.) both had multi-hit games in the game one win.
• For Berno, it was his third multi-hit game this season, while Farnham produced his second of the year.
• Serina tied up the contest in the fifth with a two-out two-run homer to left field (first of the season).
• Nova logged his fifth relief appearance of three or more innings in today's victory.

FOR THE FOES

• Curry took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a Matt Fogarty (Millis, Mass.) RBI single to center.
• The Colonels also tied up the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth via a fielder's choice RBI off the bat of John Arens (Milton, Mass.).
• Alex McLean (Eliot, Maine) received a no-decision on 6 2/3 innings, eight hits, two runs (all earned), three walks and three strikeouts.
• Fogarty went 2-for-3 with an RBI from the cleanup spot in the loss.

GAME TWO – Endicott 18, Curry 6 (seven innings)

Trailing 6-5 in the top of the third inning, Endicott exploded for nine runs on six hits – including three home runs – to take a 14-6 lead and never looked back.

Eric Nagle (Manchester, Conn.) earned the win (1-0) out of the pen as the junior right-hander stymied Curry over 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Nagle only allowed four hits, and did not issue a walk, while striking out a game-high three batters in his fourth appearance this season.

Liam Burke (Westwood, Mass.) and Victor Molle (Peabody, Mass.) then went on to record the final four outs for the Gulls. Burke fanned both batters he faced, while Molle induced a ground out to short and struck out the final batter of the doubleheader swinging.

Curry starter Kyle Connors (Stoughton, Mass.) was issued the loss (0-1) on two innings, nine hits, seven runs (all earned), no walks, and two strikeouts.

Trailing 5-0 in the bottom of the second, the Colonels responded with a six-spot in the frame, which was highlighted by a three-run home from Fogarty and a two-run double to right center from Jack Kallinich (Madison, Conn.).

The Gulls wasted little time reclaiming the lead, however, when Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.) launched a two-run home run down the left field line in the third to make it a 7-6 ball game. Endicott tacked on three more runs to move its advantage to 10-6 before Serina crushed a three-run round-tripper to right center. Kochiss later capped the scoring outburst in the frame with his second home run of the inning that he deposited deep over the left field fence.

From there on out, Endicott pushed across one run in the fifth and three more in the seventh to account for the rest of the scoring in the matchup.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott is now 27-16 in the all-time series versus Curry, which dates back to March 19, 1997.
• The Gulls are 8-2 in the last 10 meetings against the Colonels.
• Berno went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBI out of the leadoff spot in game two to finish the doubleheader sweep with five hits total.
• Kochiss notched a career-high four hits and also tied his career-high for RBI (4) in the win.
• Serina also knocked in a career-high four runs.

FOR THE FOES

• Fogarty put together another solid stat line in game two as the freshman went 2-for-3 with one run scored, three RBI, and a walk.
• Matt Hailey (Weymouth, Mass.) and Jhonathan Oliveria (Peabody, Mass.) both pitched a scoreless inning out of the pen.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (13-7, 4-0 CCC) returns to action on Wednesday, April 13 against St. Joseph's (Me.) at home at 4 p.m. Curry (6-15, 1-5 CCC) visits Bridgewater State University on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.