AMHERST, Mass. – The Endicott baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader with Amherst College on Saturday evening at Memorial Field. The Gulls took game one, 4-3 (13 inn.), but fell in game two, 7-3.

GAME ONE – Endicott 4, Amherst 3 (13 inn.)

Michael DeDonato (Chelmsford, Mass.) broke open up a 2-2 tie in the top of the 13th inning with a solo home run – his third of the season – and Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.) also added an RBI single in the frame to help lift the Gulls over Amherst, 4-3, in game one of the doubleheader.

Davarn Nova (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) earned the victory (1-1) for Endicott with four shutout innings (3 H, 2 BB, 2 K) out of the pen after replacing JJ Branch (Milford, Mass.) in the bottom of the ninth. Victor Molle (Peabody, Mass.) picked up his first career save with a walk and a strikeout in the 13th, while Branch was handed the no-decision on eight innings, eight hits, two runs (both earned), a pair of free passes, and four punchouts.

Amherst reliever John Vasiliu (Lawrenceville, N.J.) took the loss (1-1) on two innings of work, four hits, two runs (all earned), one walk, and a strikeout. Jackson Volle (San Diego, Calif.) tossed eight innings of one-run ball (5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) in the no-decision.

Trailing 2-1 in the top of the ninth, the Gulls forced extra innings by manufacturing the game-tying run with a little small ball. Chris Seidl (Dracut, Mass.) led off the frame with a single, and was quickly replaced by pinch-runner Nick Berno (St. Albans, Vt.) who promptly stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position with no outs. After Berno advanced to third on a fly out to right off the bat of Anthony Serina (Portsmouth, R.I.), Berno scampered home in the next at-bat of the frame on an RBI ground out to short via Kochiss to tie the score at 2-2.

Nova went on to escape a bases loaded situation with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, before blanking Amherst over the next three innings to set up the two-run 13th inning for the Gulls, and the eventual win.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Amherst is currently receiving 68 votes (the most out of any program not ranked) in the latest D3baseball.com/National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) National Top-25 poll.
• Seidl (1-for-3) extended his hitting streak to nine games.
• Nova now has two relief appearances of at least four innings out of the pen for the Gulls this season. Endicott has won both of those games (No. 1 Cortland 8-3 | Amherst 4-3).
• DeDonato and Kochiss both recorded multi-hit games. DeDonato has five multi-hit games this year, while Kochiss has two.
• Corbin Hyde (Lewiston, Maine) gave Endicott an early 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI double (first of the season).

FOR THE FOES

• Amherst posted two runs in the fourth via RBI singles from Anthony Spina (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Dave Cunningham (Arlington, Mass.).
• Amherst also scored one run in the bottom of the 13th on a bases loaded walk.
• Harry Roberson (Arlington, Mass.), Ariel Kenney (Chula Vista, Calif.), and Spina all had multi-hit games in the loss.

GAME TWO – Amherst 7, Endicott 3

Amherst rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the sixth inning with a pair of runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, respectively, to earn the split against Endicott in game two, 7-3.

Keenan Szulik (Raleigh, N.C.) picked up the win (1-1) in relief on three scoreless innings, two hits, two walks, and one strikeout. Riley Streit (Oxford, Conn.) landed the no-decision over six innings pitched, eight hits, three runs (all earned), no walks, and two punchouts.

Endicott reliever Zachary Sultar (South Windsor, Conn.) took the loss (0-1) on 1/3 of an inning, one hit, two runs (both earned), and one walk. Will Ferreira (Nantucket, Mass.) received the no-decision as the sophomore left-hander went five innings and yielded six hits, one run (earned), and two walks, to go along with a game-high four strikeouts.

Down 1-0 in the top of the sixth, Endicott's offense erupted for three runs on four hits to take a 3-1 advantage headed into the final 3 1/2 innings of play. Evan Lumpinski (Woodbridge, Conn.) notched an RBI single to get the offense going before he and Seidl executed a perfect double steal with Seidl scoring the second run of the inning. Kochiss later capped the scoring in the frame with an RBI single to make it 3-1.

Amherst answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on a Sam Ellinwood (Stamford, Conn.) home run and an error prior to rattling off four runs over the next two innings to lock up the victory.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Lumpinski went 3-for-3 with one run scored, one RBI, and a walk. Lumpinski has two 3-hit games this season.
• Seidl and Kochiss also collected multi-hit games.
• Seidl also extended his hitting streak to 10 games (March 13-26).

FOR THE FOES

• Ellinwood highlighted the rest of the scoring for Amherst over the final innings of the game with an RBI ground out in the seventh, and a two-run single in the eighth.
• Max Steinhorn (Bethesda, Md.), Yanni Thanopoulos (Highland, Calif.), Ellinwood, and Kenney all had multi-hit games in the game two win.
• Steinhorn and Thanopoulos, who hit first and second, respectively, in game two, went 4-for-10 with two runs scored and one RBI at the top of the lineup.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (7-4) hosts Bates on Tuesday, March 29 at 4 p.m. Amherst (8-3) welcomes Springfield to its campus next Wednesday, March 30 at 3:30 p.m. 

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