BEVERLY – The Endicott baseball team, ranked No. 4 in the latest NCAA Regional Rankings, swept Wentworth by scores of 1-0 and 2-1 on Saturday afternoon to maintain a two-game cushion in the conference standings over its foes.
GAME ONE – Endicott 1, Wentworth 0
JJ Branch (Milford, Mass.) stymied Wentworth in game one as the senior right-hander scattered three hits, walked one, and struck out four over seven shutout innings to move into a first-place tie with Mike Nich ’13 (Orange, Conn.) on the all-time wins list. Nich went 24-9 during his career for the Gulls, while Branch currently stands at 24-7.
In his 10th start of the season, Branch recorded four 1-2-3 innings, retired the first eight batters he faced to open up the contest and only allowed one runner to reach scoring position (fourth inning, one out double). Branch also pounded the strike zone throwing 50 of his 74 pitches for strikes (.676 percentage) to improve to 6-1 on the season.
Corey Jerolmon (New Milford, Conn.) was dealt the hard-luck loss (2-4) on six innings pitched, three hits, one run (earned), two free passes, and a strikeout.
In the bottom of the fourth, Endicott scored the lone run of the game with a little small ball.
Michael DeDonato (Chelmsford, Mass.) led off the frame with a single to right field and promptly stole second base to put a Gulls’ runner in scoring position for only the second time in the matchup up until that point. Anthony Serina (Portsmouth, N.H.) went on to advance DeDonato to third on a fly out to right field before Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.) plated him moments later with a sacrifice fly in the left center gap.
Branch cruised through the fifth in 1-2-3 fashion, avoided a leadoff walk in the sixth and closed out the seventh in order (pop out, strikeout looking, fly out to right center) to take game one, 1-0.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Branch has gone six or more innings in eight out of his 10 starts this season.
- Branch recorded nine fly outs and six ground outs to go along with his four punchouts in the win.
- DeDonato went 2-for-3 from the two-hole to record his team-leading 14th multi-hit game this season (tied with Kochiss).
FOR THE FOES
- Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.) notched the one-out double in the fourth for the Leopards.
- Christian Ferri (Bloomfield, N.J.) and Matt Smith (Horseheads, N.Y.) both had singles in the loss.
- Jerolmon pitched to contact, much like Branch, recording a game-high 12 fly outs in addition to four ground outs.
GAME TWO – Endicott 2, Wentworth 1
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh, the Gulls rallied for two runs on three hits and one error to complete the sweep over the Leopards.
Wentworth nearly denied Endicott of its comeback win in the seventh after recording two outs (5-2 put out at home, infield fly to short) with the bases loaded, but Cody Hall (Rutland, Mass.) worked a walk and Josh Drew (Intervale, N.H.) put a ball in play to third base that was mishandled to allow the game-winning run to score.
Colby Morris (Newburyport, Mass.) earned the win (4-0) on 1 1/3 scoreless innings out of the pen (0 H, 0 BB, 3 K), while Davarn Nova (Buzzards Bay, Mass.) took the no-decision in his third start of the season (5 2/3, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K).
Weninger was tagged with the loss (2-6) on six innings of work, five hits, two runs (one earned), zero walks, and two strikeouts. Aaron Denis (Dover, N.H.) issued the game-tying walk and induced Drew’s potential ground out after recording the first two outs of the seventh.
In the third, Ferri gave the Leopards a 1-0 lead with an RBI single to center, and then the pitchers’ duel between Nova and Weninger continued as the duo matched each other over the next 2 1/2 innings by recording 15 straight outs.
Ferri eventually broke up the string of outs with a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth to help set up a scoring threat for Wentworth. After Ferri was caught stealing and Nova rolled over a ground out to third for the second out, Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) and Johnny Ryan (Brant Rock, Mass.) registered back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second.
Morris was then summoned out of the pen for Nova and quickly squashed the rally for the Leopards with a strikeout swinging on a left-to-right sweeping slider. Morris, who shut the door the rest of the way to help clinch the sweep, is currently 20-for-24 in inherited runner situations this season, and has not allowed his last five to score (two appearances).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott is 12-6 at home this season.
- The Gulls are 33-9 in the all-time series versus Wentworth, which dates back to April 8, 2000.
- Serina now has eight multi-hit games this year after going 2-for-3 (both singles) in game two.
FOR THE FOES
- Ferri, Burst, Ryan, Jake Smith (Orange, Conn.) and M. Smith all had hits in the loss.
- J. Smith recorded the only extra-base hit of the game with a double in the third, which he eventually came around to score on (M. Smith single up the middle, Ferri RBI single to center).
WHAT’S NEXT
Endicott (25-12, 13-3 CCC) hosts UMass Boston tomorrow at 12 p.m. on Senior Day at North Field. Wentworth sees its 2016 season come to a close at 10-24 (4-12 CCC).
Information supplied by Endicott College sports information office.
