SALEM, Mass. – In a nine-inning contest against North Shore rival Salem State, the Endicott baseball team rallied with four runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game 11-11 but surrendered a walk-off RBI single to senior Matt Burgess (Kingston, Mass.) as Salem State won 12-11 on Thursday afternoon.
Endicott (16-5) trailed 11-7 going into the top of the ninth inning, but quickly got runners on second and third with no outs to start their comeback. After a walk by junior Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.) and a double by freshman Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.), Gulls senior Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring Oringer home from third. Matthew Paola (Middlebury, Conn.) drew a walk, then senior Conor Ressel (Rockport, Mass.) drove home Kochiss with a double that put Paola on third. Brett Holmgren (Middleboro, Mass.) followed with a ground out to second to score another run to make it an 11-10 game and senior EJ Martinez (Brooklyn, N.Y.) tied the game with a single to plate Ressel.
In the bottom of the ninth, Salem State freshman Alex Toomey (Beverly, Mass.) led off the inning with a single, reached second on a sacrifice bunt, and got to third on a wild pitch. Burgess delivered the game-ending RBI single with one out that drove home Toomey.
Martinez finished the game 3-for-3 with five RBI and one run scored as the senior hit a two-RBI single in the sixth, two-run homerun in the eighth, and a run-scoring single in the four-run ninth for Endicott. Holmgren had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored as he hit a two-RBI double in the sixth before his RBI hit in the ninth. Oringer had two hits, scored twice, and knocked in a run in the loss.
On the base paths, Endicott swiped four bags with Gold leading the way with two stolen bases. He upped his team-leading total to 16 in 18 chances.
The Gulls play two games at home on Saturday, April 12th against New England's fifth-ranked team Amherst starting at 1:00 pm.