April 22, 2004
(Beverly, MA) In a game switched to home because construction on Suffolk's field, the visiting Rams held off a late charge from Endicott to win its 24th game of the season while the Gulls continue to hover at the .500 mark at 18-18.
Suffolk starter and winner, Anthony Del Prete, was staked to an early 3-0 in the top of the first and did not allow an Endicott run until the sixth. Meanwhile the Ram offense pounded out 15 hits.
Endicott starter, Jack Brancaleone took the loss, but pitched well against a good hitting Ram lineup. In the top of the 1st, Suffolk's first three hitters, Trevor Grimshaw, Matt Batchelder and Mike Maguire, hit singles to put up the first run. After two were out, Marc Exarhopoulos brought in the last two with another single. Suffolk pushed it to 4-0 in the third on a solo home run by Tomayo Manzanillo. The Rams chased Brancaleone in the sixth with two more runs on a RBI double from Pat Murphy and a RBI single from Greg Zwolinski. Mike Daggett came on in relief.
Endicott finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth when Mark Vaughan reached on an error. He was followed by singles from Dustin Aiguier and Stephen Vidmosko. The bases were loaded with no outs for Greg Allain. However, Del Prete got a key out on a pick off behind Vidmosko at first base. Allain then hit an RBI ground out with the infield back to score the only run of the inning. The Gulls got one more in the seventh. Kevin Donahue reached second on a two-base throwing error on a grounder to short. With two outs, Brendan Tiani singled him in.
Endicott made in 6-4 in the 8th on some freakish plays that occurred back to back to back. Dustin Aiguier led off with a strikeout but reached first on dropped third strike. Vidmosko hit a hard liner at Del Prete that he turned into a double play. Allain got hit by a pitch, then the weird plays started to happen. Pete Norke singled on a topper to third and Allain went all the way to third on smart base running. Pat Vincent singled on a squibber that jumped over the second baseman's glove and scored Allain. Then Kevin Donahue hit a sky-high pop up that the third basemen dropped and Vincent scored. Abe Bellini got hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Brendan Tiani grounded into a force out to end the inning. Endicott scored two and came close to tying it without getting a ball out of the infield.
Suffolk answered with two in the top of the ninth for the game's final margin as Endicott got one base runner but could not score in the home half of the inning.
The Gulls return to action at noon on Saturday at home against Wentworth in the last two regular season CCC games.
