Posted: Mar 12, 2012
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
LAKE WALES, Fla. -- Endicott baseball dropped both ends of a doubleheader at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Monday falling to the Bowdoin Polar Bears by scores of 3-1 and 3-0.
The Gulls (0-3) threw the ball really well but were slightly outpitched in each contest against one of the top teams in the New England Region.
Game 1
Endicott and Bowdoin each had starters turn in brilliant outings, pitching six innings and allowing one unearned run apiece. Senior Mike Nich (Orange, Conn.) struck out three batters and did not allow a walk while dueling with Bowdoin sophomore Christian Martin (Lake Bluff, Ill.). Martin struck out six batters and walked one, allowing just four hits, while Nich scattered four base knocks. Each pitcher left the game after six innings and did not figure in the decision.
Nich’s replacements, Tyler Hill (Plymouth, N.H.) and John Morrison (Ridgefield, Conn.), got into trouble in the top of the inning. Hill, who took the loss, pitched to just two batters and allowed both of them to reach, hitting Erik Jacobsen (Milton, Mass.) and walking Kyle LeBlanc (Newburyport, Mass.)
Jacobsen would come into score the winning run on an RBI single by Jordan Edgett (Lynn, Mass.) and LeBlanc followed when Dan Findley (Duxbury, Mass.) reached on a fielder’s choice to the third baseman.
Endicott, trailing 1-0, evened the score in the bottom of the fourth inning when left fielder Ralph Fidaleo (Fairfield, Conn.) singled and pitch runner Michael Russo (Natick, Mass.) came around to score an unearned run on a passed ball and an error by the Bowdoin catcher Buddy Shea (Branford, Conn.).
Bowdoin got their unearned run in the second inning. After an error by Daniel Mello (Peabody, Mass.) allowed Edgett to reach, Findley drove him home with an RBI single. Findley, the Bowdoin designated hitter, was 2-4 with 2 RBIs in the game.
Ian Edwards (Bangor, Maine) pitched a perfect seventh inning and struck out two Gulls for his first save of the season.
Game Two
For the second time in three games this year, the Gulls were held to just one hit, this time by Bowdoin junior Oliver Van Zant (Westport, Conn.), who pitched all seven innings and struck out seven Gulls to earn the victory, his first decision of the season.
Endicott had runners on base in four of the first five innings, but only one of them, Nick Roberts (Lynnfield, Mass.) who singled in the third, was by the benefit of a hit. Endicott’s best scoring chance was in the fifth inning, when third baseman E.J. Martinez (Brooklyn, N.Y.) walked and stole second with one out, but strikeouts by Robert and Mello ended the Endicott threat.
Bowdoin got single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings. Findley, who had another two-hit game, doubled in the second inning and traded places with left fielder Matt Savard (Duxbury, Mass.). Edgett scored an unearned run on an error by second baseman Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.) two innings later and then Jacobsen crossed the plate in the fifth on another double, this time by John Lefeber (Branford, Conn.).
Tyler Hitchcock (Abington, Mass.) took a tough complete game loss after pitching six innings, allowing three runs, two of them earned. Hitchcock scattered seven hits but struck out two batters and did not walk a Polar Bear.
The Gulls will go for their first win of the season tomorrow when they play a split doubleheader. Endicott will play their regularly scheduled game against Fitchburg State at 11:00 am and then make up the rained out nightcap from yesterday’s doubleheader with St. Joseph’s of Maine (3:00 pm).
Bowdoin will be in Lakeland, Florida to play a traditional doubleheader against Westfield State starting at 10:30 am.
