Shank's two homers rallies Ravens
then earns win
PHOENIX, Ariz. (March 21,
2002) - Junior Chris Shank (Westminster,
Mass./Oakmont Regional) belted a pair of homeruns,
including a walk-off blast in the bottom of the tenth inning, to
lead Franklin Pierce to a come-from-behind 9-8 victory over the
University of Northern Colorado in non-conference baseball action
at Brazell Stadium on the campus of Grand Canyon University this
afternoon.
Shank belted a three-run blast to
deep centerfield to knot the score at 8-8 in the bottom of the
sixth, then his solo shot to left with two outs in the tenth was
the winning margin. He hit three-for six on the day, while making
his first career start at shortstop for the Ravens, with two runs
scored and five RBIs.
Franklin Pierce grabbed a 2-1 lead
after one inning of play, but Northern Colorado erupted for seven
runs, just three of them earned, in the third inning as the Ravens
committed three errors, a wild pitch and a passed ball in the
frame. Franklin Pierce starter Dan Close (Leominster,
Mass./Leominster) allowed eight runs, just three
earned, on seven hits with three strikeouts and three walks in
three innings of work.
Freshman Gary Laakso
(Athol, Mass./Athol) came in an tossed four innings
of no-hit relief to give Franklin Pierce a chance to comeback.
Junior Jon White (Medford, Mass./Arlington
Catholic) earned the win (2-1) as he fired three
innings of one-hit shutout ball with two strikeouts and no walks
less than 48 hours after he had used over 130 pitches in a
eight-plus inning effort against Grand Canyon on Tuesday.
Freshman Bear Dunn
(Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) hit 3-6 with two runs
scored and an RBI for the Ravens, while junior Paul
McAuliffe (Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) and freshmen
Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford
Hills) and Mike MacSwain (Stoughton,
Mass./Coyle Cassidy) each added two hits apiece.
UNC reliever Angelo Telitz suffered
the loss as he allowed the one earned run on two hits in 1.2
innings of work. Starter Dan Beck allowed seven runs, six earned,
on ten hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 5.1 innings of
work.
Junior Eric Aragon drove in three
RBIs with a double, while classmate Lance Rankin and freshman
Justin Tate each added a pair of hits. Rankin chipped in an RBI.
Franklin Pierce (4-4) wraps up its
annual spring trip with a doubleheader against Grand Canyon on
Saturday at 5 p.m. Northern Colorado (7-12) faces Grand Canyon
later tonight.
| Teams
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| 10
| R
| H
| E
|
| UNC
| 1
| 0
| 7
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 8
| 8
| 3
|
| FP
| 2
| 1
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 3
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 9
| 15
| 5
|
Batteries
UNC: Dan Beck, Jason Sands (6th), Ryan Symons
(6th), Angelo Telitz (9th) and Lance Rankin.
FP: Dan Close, Gary Laakso (4th), Jon
White (8th) and Eric Cavers, Al Medeiros (5th).
WP: White
(2-1)
LP: Telitz (0-3)
HR: Shank 2 (2)
