April 18, 2004
(Beverly, MA) After three straight losses, the Gulls rebounded today against one of the CCC's top teams: Roger Williams. With strong outings by both starters, Jack Brancaleone and Mike Daggett, Endicott posted wins of 7-1 and 4-1.
In game one, the visitors opened the top of the first with two quick outs and then proceeded to load the bases on two singles and a walk. But Brancaleone got John Marano to ground out to end the threat. The Gulls then touched up RWU's starter, Kurt Wiggin, for two in the bottom of first. After walks to Dave Babiarz and Mike Lucas, Greg Allain grounded out with the runners in motion. Matt Bishop got 2-out single to score them both for the early lead.
Brancaleone put the side down in order in the second. In the third, Roger Williams got on the board with three singles from Nick Franzago, Kevin Thompson, Brian Robinson. However, Brancaleone stopped a potential big inning by getting Bryce Dumond to hit into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. From there Brancaleone was in command allowing just one run through six innings of work. He was the beneficiary of two more double plays, including a strikeout-caught stealing to end the fifth.
Endicott scored one in the third when Mike Lucas doubled and Allain singled him in. Brendan Tiani singled and scored on a Babiarz single in the fourth. And the Gulls got three more insurance runs in the fifth. Ian Parkinson pitched a strong 1-2-3 seventh to help Brancaleone even his record to 3-3.
In game two, Mike Daggett went all seven innings and upped his record to 3-2. The offense got him a run early when Allain singled in Babiarz who reached on his own single and went to second on a walk to Mike Lucas. The score stay 1-0 until the fourth.
In the visitors half, Daggett pitched out a jam to keep it 1-0. Lead off hitter Franzago reached on a fielding error and Thompson hit a check swing single to right to put runners on first and second with no outs. Andrew Dillon struck out on a 2-strike bunt attempt and Brian Robinson hit a slow roller to third for the second out, however both runners advanced. Daggett got tough and struck out Dumond to end the threat.
The Gulls answered in the bottom of the fourth with two runs to give Daggett some breathing room. Allain singled and Bishop bunted him up. Peter Norke hit a run-scoring double with one out. Then Kevin Donahue singled in Norke. Tiani provided more insurance in the sixth with a 2-out single through the right side that scored Allain.
The wins put Endicott back over .500 at 16-15 and moves the Gulls to 10-6 in the CCC. Roger Williams evens their record to 14-14; 11-5 in the CCC. The Gulls have four CCC games left: two with Gordon on Tuesday, April 20 and two with Wentworth on Saturday, April 24. Brandeis University comes to Beverly tomorrow, April 19, for a non-conference game at 3:30.
