BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Top-seeded Endicott College rebounded from an opening-day loss with a victory on Saturday morning at the Bridgewater Regional in the NCAA Division 3 baseball tournament.

The nationally ranked Gulls defeated second-seeded Middlebury College, 6-1, in an elimination game at Alumni Park.

Endicott (40-7) will play again on Sunday afternoon against either third-seeded Johnson & Wales or fourth-seeded and host Bridgewater State University.

Middlebury ended its season at 27-13. The Panthers had lost on opening day to Johnson & Wales in 11 innings.

Two other games scheduled for Saturday were postponed due to rain and will be played on Sunday afternoon. Bridgewater State and Johnson & Wales meet in the winner's bracket at noon, and 50 minutes after that game, the loser will take on Endicott in an elimination game.

The championship round will take place on Monday at noon with an if necessary game to follow.

Endicott, which is ranked No. 4 in the D3baseball.com poll and No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball/ABCA poll, had lost the opening game of the tournament to Bridgewater State.

Winning pitcher Nicholas Cannata, a junior from Marlborough, Conn., went five innings, striking out six and giving up two hits to improve to 3-0.

Cannata held the Panthers hitless until Beau Root, a junior from Washington Depot, Conn., led off the fifth inning with a triple to left.

The Gulls opened a 5-0 lead by the fourth inning against Middlebury (27-13).

Endicott struck for three runs in the bottom of the first as Joseph Millar, a graduate student from Lake Hopatcong, N.Y., opened the frame with a double to left and scored on a double to right by Nicholas Notarangelo, a junior from Taunton, who advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder's choice.

Robbie Wladkowski, a sophomore from Norwood, walked and went to third on a fielder's choice and throwing error before scoring when another runner was caught in a rundown at first base.

In the third inning, Caleb Shpur, a senior from East Canaan, Conn., doubled to center, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield error.

The Gulls made it a five-run lead in the fourth when Danny MacDougall, a sophomore from Taunton, led off the frame with a single to left center, went to second on a walk and to third on a double play. He scored on a two-out bunt single by T.J. Liponis.

Middlebury got on the scoreboard in the fifth as Root tripled to left and scored on a single to center by Andrew Gough, a senior from Lake Forest, Ill..

Endicott finished the scoring in the sixth as MacDougall led with a double to left, went to third on a bunt single by Dylan Pacheco, a junior from Dartmouth, and scored on a sacrifice fly by John Mulready, a junior from Peabody.

Losing pitcher Spencer Dessart, a freshman from Ponte Verda Beach, Fla., struck out nine and scattered eight hits in eight innings.

Jordan Gottesman, a junior from Acton who is now 4-4, replaced Cannata to start the sixth inning and picked up the save, his first of the season, with four scoreless innings.