May 2, 2004
(Dudley, MA) Endicott came back from an early 3-0 deficit to hold on and win the CCC championship over Nichols College on a rain-soaked field in central Massachusetts. In a slow drizzle, the Gulls got strong relief pitching performances from Mike Daggett and Jon Trowt and a very productive day at the plate from Brendan Tiani who was 3 for 4 with a homerun, four RBI and three runs scored. The championship is the second in a row for EC and the third in the last five seasons. As the conference champion, Endicott automatically qualifies for the NCAA, New England regional tournament to be held May 20-23 at a site to be determined.
Nichols opened the game demonstrating why they have a .341 team batting average. The Bison scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the first. Mike Barry opened the frame with a single and Shawn Fehr was hit by a pitch from Endicott starter Jack Brancaleone. Luke McLaughlin singled to load the bases and Mike Escolas got two RBIs with a single up the middle. After a third to first double play which advanced Escolas to second, he scored on two passed balls while Sal Gesamondo was at the plate.
Endicott exploded for six in the top of the second when they sent 12 men to the plate. Greg Allain and Peter Norke walked to start the inning. Kevin Donahue singled home Allain. Then Brendan Tiani picked up his first two RBIs with a deep single that scored Allain and Donahue. Pat Vincent then singled to left and he and Tiani both got an extra base when the left fielder overran the ball. After a walk and hit batsman, Matt Bishop singled in Pat Vincent. Greg Allain closed out the scoring with a sac fly that scored Dustin Aiguier.
Nichols got one back in the bottom of the second to make it 6-4 and chased Brancaleone for Mike Daggett. Daggett pitched 4.2 innings to pick up the win. He stabilized the game for Endicott by slowing the Bison attack. In all he allowed three runs while striking out three and walking two.
Endicott widened the margin to 9-5 after five, and to 11-5 after six. Nichols battled back in the bottom of the seventh with three runs to make it 11-8. After walking the first two hitters, Jon Trowt came on to relieve Daggett. He let in Daggett's two runners plus one more unearned run caused by an error at second in the wet, skidding grass. NC's Sal Gesamondo did most of the damage with the inning's only hit: a two-run double.
From there Trowt took over by pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth to record the save. The Gulls got two insurance runs in the top of the ninth on a single by Mike Lucas that plated Pat Vincent and Dustin Aiguier who reached earlier by errors on the Nichols' infield.
Although no formal tournament MVP is awarded, Jon Trowt's pitching performance would have to make him the one. For the tourney he pitched in five out the six games and logged 13.1 innings in four out of five days. He stopped rallies by Roger Williams on April 28 and Salve Regina on April 29. He got a day off on April 30, but stopped another Salve rally in game one on May 1 and got the win in relief against Salve in game two on May 1. He then picked up the save today against Nichols.
Endicott is now 26-19 and heads to Bridgewater State tomorrow to face a traditionally strong New England foe.
