Auburndale, Fla. – The Endicott baseball team ventured down to Central Florida to compete in the RussMatt Invitational and on day one of the tournament, the Gulls split a pair of games with Husson College of the North Eastern Atlantic Conference to begin their 2011 campaign at 1-1.

Game One – Endicott 8, Husson 9

Boxscore

Freshman first baseman Jake Northrup (Boxborough, Mass.) made a splash in his first at bat in a Gulls uniform with a two-run homerun in bottom of the second inning, part of a five-run rally by Endicott after falling behind 4-0 to Husson in the early going.

The Blue and Green added two more runs in the bottom half of the third inning after junior Danny Mello (Peabody, Mass.) doubled and then scored on an RBI single by Patrick Laffin (Norwell, Mass.). Laffin later crossed the plate after a hit by freshman Tad Gold (Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.) reached the outfield grass for a double.

In the top of the fourth the Gulls, however, surrendered four Husson runs on an error, an RBI single by Shawn Smith and a two-RBI single by Kevin Rennick to hand a 9-7 lead over to the Eagles.

Endicott got one back on a Joe Klein (Monroe, Conn.) single that brought home Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.), but that the Gulls fell one run short to Husson in game one of the doubleheader.

Freshman Steven Carter (Brunswick, Maine) and sophomore Tyler Hitchcock (Abington, Mass.) both pitched two innings of scoreless relief for the Gulls with a strikeout each.

Game Two – Endicott 8, Husson 6

Boxscore

Out of the three-hole, junior Colin Sitarz went 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored to lead the Gulls to a split with Husson, winning game two 8-6.

Sitarz singled in senior captain Chris Dominguez (Braintree, Mass.) in the top of first and two innings later doubled home two runners as part of a four-run third inning to give the Gulls an early 5-0 lead.

Equally as impressive on the mound was fellow junior Benjamin Petrides (Belchertown, Mass.) who pitched 5 2/3 innings with five strikeouts while earning the victory. Freshman Jake Northrup came on in relief for the save, striking out two Eagles in the process. Northrup also cracked an RBI single in the third inning.

The Gulls gave up two runs in the bottom of the third on RBI singles by Shawn Smith and Josh Gaudette before adding another tally on a successful first and third double steal attempt by Sitarz and Danny Mello that put Endicott up 6-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, Husson plated three more runners on doubles by Smith, Gaudette, and Jake Arthers (Belfast, Maine) to cut the Endicott lead down to 6-5.

Chris Dominguez hit a sacrifice fly to right field in the sixth and sophomore Mike Griffin (Arlington, Mass.) knocked an RBI single to bring in Mello in the seventh to provide the run support the Gulls needed to hang on for the win.

Endicott will continue their spring trip with a double dip against MASCAC opponent Fitchburg State College starting at 1:30 pm on Sunday.