AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Endicott baseball will return home with a 5-2 overall record after wrapping up their spring break trip at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational with an 11-6 victory over College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) opponent Elmhurst on Saturday. The Gulls went scoreless in the first three innings of the game but erupted for 11 runs over the final six frames thanks in part to a 3-for-6 performance at the dish by freshman outfielder and leadoff man Cam Farnham (Andover, Mass.).
Endicott plays their first games back in the northeast starting with Worcester State on Tuesday followed by a rematch of the 2013 NCAA Division III New England Regional Final with Southern Maine, who is currently ranked #3/#4 according to D3Baseball.com and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Gulls and Huskies face off on Wednesday at Endicott's North Field starting at 3:30 PM.
Farham finished a homerun shy of the cycle as his RBI double in the top of the fourth was part of a four-run inning for the Gulls and his RBI triple helped to provide insurance runs for Endicott in the top of the ninth. Directly behind Farnham in the lineup, second baseman Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.) knocked in three runs as the junior went 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored.
Endicott gave starter Eric Nagle (Manchester, Conn.) a 4-0 lead after the top of the fourth on a Steve Morganelli (Milford, Mass.) two-RBI triple and run scoring hits by Farnham and Oringer. Nagle, already with three scoreless frames to start the game, went to the mound in the bottom of the fourth, allowed a leadoff single, but saw a 6-4-3 double-play end the inning for the Gulls.
The Gulls were quiet in the top of the fifth and with Nagle on the mound again, Elmhurst got their offense going by scoring three runs and knocking Nagle out of the game. Endicott got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Oringer and scored two more in the top of the seventh as Corbin Hyde (Lewiston, Maine) got a sacrifice fly and Morganelli drove in his second run of the game.
Morganelli finished the game 3-for-5 with three RBis, a run scored, and two stolen bases.
Endicott tacked on two runs in both the eighth and ninth innings, thanks to a RBI triple by Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.), a Brett Holmgren (Middleboro, Mass.) RBI hit, Farnham's run scoring triple, and a costly error by the Elmhurst shortstop.
Sophomore pitcher Zac Poland (Essex Junction, Vt.), who came on in relief of Nagle in the fifth, earned the win by going 2 1/3 innings. Senior Connor McLaughlin (Clinton, Mass.) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out one. Morganelli, despite allowing runs to cross home, closed out the game in the bottom of the ninth.
For the week, Endicott hit .303 as a team with Oringer leading the way with a .480 batting average, 10 RBI, and 10 runs scored. Gold hit .448 with a team-highs for hits (13), RBI (10), runs (10), and stolen bases (4). JJ Branch (Milford, Mass.) in two starts went 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA while Tyler Hill (Las Vegas, Nev.) was effective in both starting and relief roles, going 1-0 with 1.42 ERA and six strikeouts in 6 ½ innings.