AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Endicott baseball continued their spring break schedule a the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Thursday against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) opponent Ramapo and held a 5-3 lead over the Roadrunners, but four runs over the final four innings thwarted the Gulls efforts for their third win of the week.
Endicott (2-2) used a four-run top of the third to garner a 4-0 lead after a RBI single by junior Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.), a two-RBI triple off the bat of senior Brett Holmgren (Middleboro, Mass.), and a fielder's choice RBI by senior EJ Martinez (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
Ramapo responded in the bottom half of the inning and made it a 4-3 game on a RBI single to left by Roadrunners sophomore Joe Venturino (Barnegat Light, N.J.) and a double to left center by junior Ian Osterman (Norwood, N.J.) that plated two runs.
Endicott would get one of those runs back in the top of the fourth. Gulls sophomore Corbin Hyde (Lewiston, Maine) started off the inning by hitting a single through the right side then stealing second base to get into scoring position. Cody Hall (Rutand, Mass..) dropped a bunt on the next play which allowed Hyde to scoring with some heads-up base running.
With a 5-3 lead, Ramapo began their comeback in the bottom of the fifth on an unearned run scored after John Capuano (Ramsey, N.J.) stole third than trotted home on an errant throw. After getting the final out of the inning, Endicott junior pitcher Zac Poland (Essex Junction, Vt.) wrapped up his five-inning stint on the mount by allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
Gulls freshman Adam Blake (Mansfield, Mass.) hurled a scoreless sixth inning, but in the bottom of the seventh Venturino delivered a game-tying hit with two outs as he roped a single down the left field line to score Scott Shields (San Luis Obispo, Calif.). Heading into the 8th inning, the score was tied 5-5.
Ramapo produced a go-ahead single down the right field line off the bat of sophomore Scott Paulus (Washington, N.J.) to make it 6-5 and added one more run on a throwing error.
Oringer finished the game 2-for-3 with a RBI and run scored. Senior Tad Gold went 1-for-3 with a walk, run scored, and two stolen bases.
Endicott plays two games on Friday at the RussMatt invitational, one against Benedictine (Ill.) at 4:00 pm and the other against Oswego State at 7:30 pm. Both games are being held at Lake Myrtle Park, Field One in Auburndale, Florida.