Bryant turns Ravens batters in
knots in out-dueling Shank
RINDGE, N.H. (May 8,
2002) - Freshman right-hander Tim Bryant kept the Franklin
Pierce offense off-balance all afternoon in leading Bentley College
to a 5-2 upset victory in first round action of the Northeast-10
Conference Baseball Tournament at Crystal Field this afternoon.
Bentley (22-22, 16-16 NE-10), the
third seed in the NE-10's Pepin Division, advances to the
double-elimination round and will face Pepin Division Champion
UMass Lowell (26-15, 21-11 NE-10) on Friday night at LaLacheur Park
in Lowell, Mass., at 7 p.m. In the Conference's other first round
match-up, Stonehill College (25-20-1, 19-13 NE-10) defeated College
of Saint Rose (32-21, 21-11 NE-10), 4-3, to advance to the weekend
tourney and will face the Markey Division's top-seed, Bryant
College (33-18, 23-9 NE-10) on Friday at LaLacheur Park at 4 p.m.
Franklin Pierce, the No. 2 seed in
the Markey Division, suffers its fourth-straight postseason loss as
many games dating back to the 2000 season. The Ravens fell in last
year's NE-10 first round encounter with Southern Connecticut State
University, 6-4.
This afternoon, Bryant out-dueled
Franklin Pierce junior right-hander Chris Shank
(Westminster, Mass./Oakmont Regional) and kept the
Ravens bats quiet for most of the afternoon. He held the Ravens No.
2-5 batters to a combined one-for-16 as Franklin Pierce left eight
runners on base for the game. Bryant yielded just two earned runs
on nine hits with two strikeouts and a walk in the complete game
effort.
Shank suffered his first loss of
the season to a New England team as he fell to 8-2 on the season.
He allowed four earned runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and
five walks in 8.1 innings of work.
The two teams traded solo homers in
the second inning to start the scoring. Bentley senior Bernie
Driscoll belted a leadoff homer to left center, then Franklin
Pierce freshman Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford
Hills) smacked a two-out blast in the bottom of the
frame.
The game remained knotted at 1-1
until the sixth, when Falcons senior Steve Vickers lined a leadoff
homer down the rightfield line.
Shank worked out of a huge jam in
the eighth, as Bentley placed runners on second and third with no
outs after a Vickers double. However, Cavers made a sliding catch
in shallow rightfield and Shank fanned a batter then got the final
out on a foul out to first base.
Bentley got the insurance it was
looking for in the ninth inning with two walks and one out.
Franklin Pierce junior Jon White (Medford,
Mass./Arlington Catholic) came on in relief of Shank
and got one quick out at second on a fielder's choice advancing a
runner to third. After senior John DiGennaro scored on a wild pitch
and classmate Bernie Driscoll walked, Vickers belted a two-run
double down the leftfield line to put the Falcons up 5-1.
Franklin Pierce got its first two
batters on base in the bottom of the eighth as Cavers was hit by a
pitch and freshman Bear Dunn (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd
Hill) followed with a double to right center. After a
ground out, senior Eric Burney (Rockville,
Conn./Rockville) drove in Cavers with a sacrifice
fly, but that was all the Ravens would get as Bryant got senior
Scott Loiseau (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter
Marian) to foul out to first base to end the game.
Vickers finished four-for-five with
two doubles, a homer and three RBIs, while junior Jamie Gath
finished 2-4 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base.
Dunn was a perfect 3-3 at the plate
for Franklin Pierce with a double and a walk, while Cavers finished
2-3 with a homer, two runs scored and an RBI, extending his
team-best hitting streak to 14 games. Loiseau hit 2-5 with a
double.
Franklin Pierce (29-17, 22-10
NE-10), ranked third in this week's NCAA Division II Northeast
Regional poll, still has an outside shot at its first ever NCAA
Tournament berth with Saint Rose's (ranked sixth) loss today but
must wait out the selection process early next week. The Ravens set
school records for overall and Conference victories this season
with 29 and 22, respectively.
| Teams
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| R
| H
| E
|
| Bentley
| 0
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 3
| 5
| 9
| 1
|
| FP
| 0
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 2
| 9
| 0
|
Batteries:
BEN: Tim Bryant and Kevin Lyons
FP: Chris Shank, Jon White (9th) and Al Medeiros
WP: Bryant
(4-2)
LP: Shank (8-2)
HR: Driscoll (10); Vickers (10); Cavers (7).
