Top-Seeded Endicott Falls to Roger Williams To End CCC Title Run

GAME #8 - 2015 CCC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT - Endicott 4 Roger Williams 5

BEVERLY, Mass.-  Looking to three-peat as Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) champions, top-seeded Endicott was knocked out of the tournament by #5 Roger Williams in extra innings by a score of 5-4.  With the loss, Endicott falls to 23-17 on the season and travels to MIT on Tuesday night for a single game as the Gulls await their postseason fate.  With the win, Roger Williams improves to 17-19 on the year and will take on Salve Regina at 3:00 p.m. with the winner advancing to face Curry in the CCC Championship.

With the game tied at 2-2 after three innings of play, Roger Williams Williams would strike for two in the top of the fifth to take a 4-2 advantage into the bottom of the ninth before Endicott would stage some late game heroics to tie it back up at 4-4 before falling in the 10th. 

Luke Morse (Westford, Mass.) started and went two innings, allowing two unearned runs on two walks and two hits while striking out one.  He was followed for the next two innings by Nick Quattro (Canton, Conn.) who allowed two earned runs on two hits and two walks while also striking out one.  JJ Branch (Milford, Mass.) would come in to get an out before turning it over to freshman Owen Bautze (Sudbury, Mass.) who pitched four scoreless innings of one hit ball to keep the Gulls in the game and enable the comeback.  

Roger Williams starter George Lund (West Hartford, Conn.) went six and a third strong innings, allowing just two runs and six hits while walking two and striking out two as well.  He gave way to Sam Bennett (Andover, Mass.) who pitched one and two thirds innings of shutout ball to get it to the ninth.

Once in the bottom ninth, with Endicott trailing 4-2 and with their season on the line, the Gulls started the rally right away.  Freshman Michael DeDonato (Chelmsford, Mass.) started the inning with a walk before Cam Farnham (Farnham, Mass.) singled to put men on first and second without an out.  Junior Matthew Paola (Middlebury, Conn.) would advance the runners with a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt to give Endicott runners in scoring position with just one out.  Looking to keep the double play in order at any base, the Hawks would walk Harry Oringer (Dartmouth, Mass.) to load the bases.  Team RBI leader Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.) lofted a sac fly to left to score the team's third run and advance Farnham and DeDonato to third and second.  Anthony Serina (Portsmouth, R.I.) would then single to left center to score Farnham and knot the score at 4-4 after a full nine innings. 

Heading into extra innings, junior Davarn Nova (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) would take the mound.  Nova got two quick outs by inducing a fly out and a ground out.  The junior pitcher then wound up striking out Sean Gaffney (Simsbury, Conn.) but a past ball on the swinging third strike enabled the freshman to reach first and extend the Salve half of the inning.  A successful stolen base attempt would put Gaffney on second with two outs. That allowed Jamie Timothy (Cohasset, Mass.) to single into left, advancing Gaffney to third, before an error advanced both runners, Timothy to second and Gaffney home for an unearned run to give RWU the 5-4 lead for good.

With the loss, Endicott falls to 23-17 on the season and travels to MIT on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. for a single game as the Gulls await their postseason fate.  With the win, Roger Williams improves to 17-19 on the year and will take on Salve Regina at 3:00 p.m. with the winner advancing to face Curry in the CCC Championship tomorrow at noon.