Posted: May 01, 2011
Waltham, Mass. - The Endicott College baseball team scored in each of the last four innings of play en route to a 7-4 victory over the University of Massachusetts Boston Sunday afternoon at Yetten Field. With the victory the Gulls improve to 27-13 while the Beacons fall to 16-18 overall.
Endicott plated two runs in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie and never looked back. Junior right fielder Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.) led off the frame with a double to deep centerfield and then sophomore first baseman Mike Griffin (Arlington, Mass.) reached after getting hit by a pitch to put two on with no out. On the next play, junior catcher Robbie Goldstick (Deerfield, Ill.) attempted to lay down a sacrifice bunt but the Beacons opted to cut down the lead runner at third. Junior third baseman Mike Mattei (Spencer, Mass.) fielded Goldstick's bunt cleanly and appeared to gun down Sitarz on a bang-bang play but the field umpire called him safe and up next, freshman Taylor English (Barre, Vt.) drove in Sitarz with a sac-fly to left to put the Gulls on top, 3-2. Griffin would also score in the inning with the help of a UMB throwing error to account for the 4-2 lead.
The Gulls would add another pair of runs to go up 6-2 in the eighth. Senior third baseman Chris Dominguez (Braintree, Mass.) led off with a single to center and came around to score on an RBI triple to right by sophomore second baseman Eric Lemke (Southington, Conn.). Lemke would score on a sac-fly by freshman shortstop Jake Northrup (Boxborough, Mass.). UMass Boston would get one back right away in the bottom half of the inning as senior second baseman Ryan Walsh (Newton, Mass.) connected on a two-out triple to center and then scored on a wild pitch to pull the Beacons a run closer at 6-3.
In the ninth, Endicott would add an insurance run with another sacrifice fly, their third in as many innings, by junior centerfielder Mike Russo (Natick, Mass.) to drive in Goldstick to make it 7-3.
After making two quick outs, the Beacons would make some noise in the ninth as junior right fielder Ty Buccetti (Wallingford, Conn.) got things started by working a walk. Mattei and junior centerfielder Mark McCormack (Shelton, Conn.) followed up with singles to load the bases for junior Pat Lynch (Middletown, R.I.). During the at-bat, Buccetti came into score on a wild pitch and Lynch would then re-load the bases with a walk. With the bags juiced, senior Dan Noonan (Westport, Mass.) worked the count full but Northrup, who came on to work the ninth, was able to get Noonan looking on a called third strike to end the game.
The Beacons jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the first by senior first baseman Connor Reinfurt (Manchester, N.H.), plating Walsh who had reached via a double. Endicott knotted the game at 1-1 in the second as Griffin crushed an RBI triple to left-centerfield, driving in Northrup before UMass Boston quickly regained the 2-1 lead with a run in the bottom of the second with a two-out RBI double by Buccetti.
On a staff day for the Gulls, sophomore Kevin Dupras (Belchertown, Mass.) notched the win working two perfect innings and improves to 2-2 on the year. Freshman Will Barack (Lancaster, Va.) suffered the loss for UMB, working seven innings while allowing six runs (four earned) on seven hits while recording three strikeouts.
Endicott now awaits to find out their seed and opponent in this week's upcoming The Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament beginning on Tuesday, May 3rd.
Story courtesy of UMass Boston Sports Information.
