March 16, 2009
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Junior catcher Joe Klein (Monroe, Conn) singled through the right side of a drawn in infield to give the Endicott College baseball team its first lead of the day, en-route to a 4-3 victory over University of Massachusetts Boston today at Chain O' Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Fla. in the RussMatt Invitational. The Beacons fall to 0-6 on the season, while the Gulls improve to 2-3.
Endicott entered the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 2-1, but sophomore shortstop Christopher Dominguez (Braintree, Mass.) led off with a single, sophomore left fielder Roberto Zapata (Boston, Mass.) reached on an error and junior Andy Skelton (Sudbury, Mass.) worked a pinch-hit walk to load the bases before senior third basemen Brian Andersen (Grafton, Mass.) reached on a fielder's choice to knock in Dominguez with the game-tying run. Klein's single brought home the go-ahead run for a 3-2 margin.
The Gulls tacked on a needed insurance run in the eighth when junior center fielder Aaron Santos (Cambridge, Mass.) singled up the middle to lead off the frame, stole second and moved to third on a ground out to second by junior first baseman Andrew Betts (Bristol, Conn.) to set up an RBI single up the middle by Dominguez to give them a 4-2 lead. Freshman center fielder Mark McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) cracked a one-out double to center field and senior designated hitter Ryan Oshima (La Jolla, Calif.) later worked a full count with two outs before stroking a single through the right side to put runners on the corners for UMass Boston. Sophomore catcher Tim Fontaine (Worcester, Mass.) pulled the Beacons to within 4-3 when he followed with a single to left field in the top of the ninth, but it would be as close as they would get.
UMass Boston got on the board first in the fourth inning thanks to a booming double to left center off the bat of sophomore first baseman Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, N.H.) to score freshman left fielder Russell Sirko (Danbury, Conn.), who had reached on a bases on balls. The Beacons increased their lead to 2-0 in the fifth on leadoff home run from McCormack that bounced off the top of the fence, 380 feet away in right center, for his first collegiate long ball. Endicott got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Klein drew a pinch-hit walk and came around to score on a double to right field by sophomore second baseman Mike Barbati (Melrose, Mass.) to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
Freshman pitcher Mike Nich (Amity, Conn.) picked up the win for the Gulls with two and two-thirds innings of hitless relief and walked and struck out one batter, while junior Danny Gomez (East Boston, Mass.) was the hard-luck loser for UMass Boston, allowing three runs (two earned) on just four hits and four walks in seven innings to go with six strikeouts.
McCormack finished the day for the Beacons going 3-4 with two runs scored, a run batted in and a stolen base and Fontaine was 2-5 with his team-leading ninth RBI. Dominguez led Endicott going 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored to go with a pair of stolen bases.
UMass Boston will be in action again on Wednesday, March 18 when they take on Hope College at noon in Winter Haven, Fla. at Polk Community College, while the Gulls take on Amherst on Wednesday at 12:30 in Winter Haven.