Shank strong again on the mound
and Cavers and Callahan spark offense
SMITHFIELD, R.I. (April 12,
2002) - Franklin Pierce University
got another strong pitching performance and banged out 13 hits to
kick-off a key weekend series against Bryant College with a 7-2
victory in Northeast-10 Conference baseball action at the Bryant
College Baseball Complex this afternoon.
Junior right-hander
Chris Shank (Westminster, Mass./Oakmont
Regional) was solid on the mound again for Franklin
Pierce as he allowed just two earned runs on six hits with nine
strikeouts and three walks in eight innings of work to pick up his
fifth win of the season (5-1). The six hits against him are a
season-high as are the three walks issued to Bryant this afternoon.
However, the Bulldogs were able to do very little with the limited
opportunities, striking for a pair of runs in the sixth inning
after Franklin Pierce had taken a 6-0 lead.
The Ravens jumped in front with a
single run in the second inning as junior Mike
Callahan(Worcester, Mass./St. Peter
Marian) belted a two-out solo homer to leftfield.
Freshman Bear Dunn
(Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) drove in junior
Dan Close (Leominster, Mass./Leominster)
when he was hit by a Mike Florest pitch with the bases loaded in
the third inning.
After a Paul McAuliffe
(Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) RBI single in the fourth
frame, Franklin Pierce took control of the game with three runs in
the fifth. Dunn was hit by a pitch again to leadoff the frame and
Callahan followed with an RBI double. Senior Eric
Burney (Rockville, Conn./Rockville) drove Callahan in
with a double to left and later scored on a fielding error.
Bryant's two runs came in the sixth
inning as sophomore B.J. Gagnon belted an RBI double to score
freshman Mickey Ryan who drew a leadoff walk. Senior Dan England
rounded out the inning with a sacrifice fly to drive home Jim
Collins.
Franklin Pierce capped off the
scoring with a leadoff homer by freshman Eric Cavers
(Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) in the ninth inning.
Five different Franklin Pierce
players posted two hits in the game, led by Callahan who finished
two-for-five with a double, a homer and two RBIs. Senior
Scott Loiseau (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter
Marian) was also 2-5 extending his current hitting
streak to 13 games, while sophomore Dante Blancarte
(Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) saw his team-leading
string extend to 14 games. Burney finished 2-5 with two runs
scored, a double and an RBI.
Florest suffered the loss (3-4) for
Bryant as he allowed six runs, four earned, on ten hits with four
strikeouts and no walks in five innings.
Sophomore Chris Dwyer was the lone
Bulldog with multiple hits as he hit 2-4.
| Teams
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| R
| H
| E
|
FP
| 0
| 1
| 1
| 1
| 3
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 7
| 13
| 1
|
| Bryant
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 2
| 7
| 5
|
Battery
FP: Chris Shank, Greg Basile (9th) and Al
Medeiros.
BC: Mike Florest, Jordan Copes (6th) and Jim
Collins
WP: Shank
(5-1)
LP: Florest (3-4)
HR: Cavers (4), Callahan (1).
Franklin Pierce (13-10, 7-4 NE-10)
and Bryant (19-13, 9-4 NE-10) return to the diamond tomorrow for a
doubleheader at Crystal Field in Rindge at noon. The two teams wrap
up their four-game weekend series on Sunday back in Smithfield at 1
p.m.
