April 22, 2006
BEVERLY, MA - The Gulls started their final weekend of regular season conference competition with a bang as they swept the Leopards of Wentworth Institute of Technology this afternoon 8-3 and 8-4. These wins gave the Gulls a record of 19-14 (15-3 CCC) while the Leopards dropped to 6-25 (3-15 CCC).
The first game was dominated by the Gulls as they jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Three hits in a row by freshman Joe Paciello (Worcester, MA/St. Peter Marian), sophomore Dan Gomez (East Longmeadow, MA/East Longmeadow) and junior Joe Orlando (Gloucester, MA/Gloucester) provided the Gulls with the early lead. The Gulls also were able to get on base by getting hit by the ball as well. There were three hit batters in the inning and five hit batters on the game as a whole. Sophomore Adam Labbe (Litchfield, ME/Oak Hill Regional) was on the receiving end of three of those; he also got on base the conventional way with a base hit in the third inning.
Junior Erik Fields (Swampscott, MA/Swampscott) had his third straight complete game in which he only allowed four hits while striking out four and surrendering two walks in the seven inning contest.
Playing well for the Leopards in the first game was freshman Kris Landry (Haverhill, MA/Central Catholic) who went 1-3 with a triple, two runs scored and an RBI. Freshman Nick Cunningham (Pembroke, MA/Williston-Northampton) scored the other run for Wentworth and went 1-2 with a single.
The Leopards were able to jump out to an early lead in the second game when they took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Freshman Aaron LaPlante (Charlestown, MA/Fall Mountain Regional) scored the run to get that lead. LaPlante reached on an infield single, stole second base and then scored on an error.
Wentworth was able to extend the lead in the third to 3-0 when LaPlante scored again on a failed double play attempt. Freshman Mike Roberts (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford) got the RBI on the play. Sophomore Jhoel Oviedo (Roslindale, MA/West Roxbury) scored on the next play.
The Gulls were able to respond in the next inning with a two out rally that was capped by senior Matt Bishop's (Woburn, MA/Woburn) bases clearing triple that scored Fields and senior Kevin Donahue (Reading, MA/Reading) that made the score 3-2. The Leopards did get a run in the top of the fourth inning but the Gulls were able to take the lead for good in the bottom half on sophomore Tom Warner's (Hopkinton, NH/Hopkinton) two RBI single. The Gulls added three insurance runs in the fifth to seal the deal.
Freshman Mike Wells (South Portland, ME/South Portland) came on in relief of fellow freshman Dave Weinreich (Milford, CT/Jonathan Law) and was able to shut down the Leopards in his four innings of work. Wells struck out five, allowed only one run and surrendered only four hits.
The Gulls are back in action tomorrow when they host rival Salve Regina University in their last conference game of the regular season. Salve and Endicott are currently tied atop the CCC standings with tomorrow deciding who will get the \#1 and \#2 seeds in the tournament. Both teams are currently 15-3 in the CCC and each team has ended the others season in the playoffs the last three years. Salve Regina beat the Gulls in a doubleheader last year in the conference semi-finals. In 2004 the Gulls defeated Salve in a double header in the conference semi-finals and in 2003 defeated the Seahawks in the conference finals. First pitch in the next stage of this rivalry is scheduled for 12:00pm.