April 25, 2006
BEVERLY, MA - The Gulls kicked off the 2006 CCC playoffs with a bang today as they defeated the Chargers of Colby-Sawyer College 11-0. The Gulls will face-off against Nichols College tomorrow at 3:00pm while the Chargers will travel to face Eastern Nazarene College also at 3:00pm.
Senior Matt Bishop (Woburn, MA/Woburn) was able to help his team on both sides of the ball today as he went 2-2 with two singles and three RBI's. He also started the game on the mound and went seven dominant innings allowing just three hits while striking out nine, including a four strikeout inning. This occurred when Chargers sophomore DH John O'Neil (Mapleville, RI/Burrillville) swung and missed strike three but the ball eluded Gulls sophomore catcher Dan Gomez (East Longmeadow, MA/East Longmeadow) that allowed O'Neil to reach base. Bishop then struck out two more batters to get the four K's in the inning. Freshman Kyle Schmutte (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug Regional) finished the game for the Gulls throwing two perfect innings of relief.
The Gulls benefited from many parts of their order to score their 11 runs. The bottom three hitters in the line-up; senior Kevin Donahue (Reading, MA/Reading), sophomore Adam Labbe (Litchfield, ME/Oak Hill Regional) and sophomore Tom Warner (Hopkinton, NH/Hopkinton) combined for six runs and six hits. Junior Erik Fields (Swampscott, MA/Swampscott) had a solid day at the plate going 3-4 with three singles, two runs and two RBI's. Also having a multiple hit performance was sophomore Gavin Softic (Athol, MA/Cushing Academy) who went 2-5 with a double.
The Chargers three hits on the day came from O'Neil, junior Steve Hansen (Southbury, CT/Pomperaug) and freshman Chris Gaeta (Lynn, MA/St. Mary's/Univ. of So. Maine). Sophomore Lee Chubet (Arlington, VT/Memorial) came on in relief of starter Sean Gildea (Haverhill, MA/St. John's Prep) in the sixth inning and pitched three solid innings of relief allowing just one run and two hits.