Weagle in command; Bats awaken for key regional battle as King
claims 100th Franklin Pierce victory
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (March 21,
2003) - Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 21 in this week's
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division
II poll, claimed a key Northeast Regional victory with a 9-2
decision over Molloy College this afternoon.
The win marked the 100th at
Franklin Pierce for head coach Jayson King, who has now led the
Ravens to a 100-84-1 (.543) mark in just over four seasons at the
helm. The winningest coach in program history, King is now
121-131-1 (.480) over his six-plus year head-coaching career.
Junior right-hander Matt
Weagle (Charlton, Mass./Shephard Hill) improved
to 2-0 on the season as he held Molloy to two earned runs on five
hits with no walks and five strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work. He
gave way to junior Greg
Basile (Suffield, Conn./Suffield), who closed out
the win with 2.1 innings of one-hit shutout relief with two walks
and two strikeouts.
The Ravens offense, which had
totaled just six hits in each of their last four games, banged out
11 this afternoon against four different Lions hurlers. Freshman
Elliott
Shea (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) led the way by
hitting three-for-four with his first career home run, a double and
two RBI. Senior Mike
Callahan (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter Marian) was
also 3-4, scoring a run, while classmateDan
Close (Leominster, Mass./Leominster) hit 2-3 with
four RBI.
Molloy sophomore right-hander Ryan
Mulholland, a transfer from Sacred Heart University, was struck for
five runs, four earned, on five hits with a strikeout and two walks
over four innings to take the loss.
Franklin Pierce opened a 2-0 lead
after two innings with senior Paul
McAuliffe (Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) lining an RBI
single in the first and Shea belting a solo homer in the second.
The Ravens broke the game open with
three in the fourth as Close laced a base clearing single with the
bases loaded. After senior Josh
Coughlin (Keene, N.H./Keene) scored on a sac fly
by sophomore Eric
Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) for a
single run in the fifth, the Ravens lead grew to 8-0 in the sixth
after Shea belted an RBI double and Close followed with an RBI
single.
Molloy got two runs in the seventh
to chase Weagle as sophomore Matt Meaney and senior Scott Sweeney
each registered RBI singles.
Franklin Pierce (6-4), which
received its first national ranking in program history this week,
rounds out its spring break schedule tomorrow when it faces Mount
Vernon Nazarene University for a doubleheader beginning at 9 a.m.
| Teams
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| R
| H
| E
|
| MC
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 2
| 6
| 4
|
| FP
| 1
| 1
| 0
| 3
| 1
| 2
| 1
| 0
| x
| 9
| 11
| 0
|
BOX
SCORE
Batteries:
MC - Ryan Mulholland, Edward DelCasino (5),
Michael Jurik (8), Joe Penney (9) and Kevin Sluka.
FP - Matt Weagle, Greg Basile (7) and Eric Cavers.
WP: Weagle
(2-0)
LP: Mulholland
HR: Elliott Shea (1)
