Ravens must defeat UMass Lowell twice on Sunday for first NE-10
title
LOWELL, Mass. (May 10,
2003) - Markey Division champs Franklin Pierce advanced to
the Northeast-10 Conference Championship game for the first time in
program history with a 6-1 victory over Stonehill College in
tonight's elimination game at LeLacheur Park.
Franklin Pierce (27-14) will face
Pepin Division Champion UMass Lowell (29-10) in tomorrow's
championship game beginning at noon. Franklin Pierce will need to
defeat UML, which advanced with a 17-0 thumping of the Ravens in
today's second game, twice in order to claim the first Conference
title in program history. Stonehill rounds out the tournament with
a 26-16-1 overall record.
Freshman right-hander
Tyler Cummings (South Paris, Maine/Oxford
Hills) picked up his sixth win of the season (6-4)
with a complete game effort for Franklin Pierce. He allowed just
one run (first inning) on nine hits with nine strikeouts and no
walks.
Senior Dan Close
(Leominster, Mass./Leominster) sparked the offense as
he continues to swing a hot bat, finishing 2-for-3 with a triple
and three RBI. Freshman Elliott Shea (Jaffrey,
N.H./Conant) was 2-4 with an RBI, run scored and
stolen base, while senior Paul McAuliffe (Foxboro,
Mass./Foxboro) hit 1-3 with a double and two runs
scored.
Junior Mike Schlittler hit 3-4 with
a double and RBI for Stonehill. Classmate Pat Driscoll was 2-4 with
a run scored.
Sophomore Matt Mitchell took the
loss as he was hit for six runs, just two earned, on seven hits and
three walks with two strikeouts.
Stonehill took an early 1-0 lead in
the top of the first when Schlittler doubled down the rightfield
line to drive in Driscoll, who reached with a single through the
left side.
The Ravens snapped a string of 13
scoreless innings on the day in the fifth inning to knot the score
at 1-1. Senior Josh Coughlin (Keene,
N.H./Keene) led off the frame with a double down the
leftfield line and later scored on a single to right from Shea.
McAuliffe scored the go-ahead run in the sixth, scoring when senior
Mike Callahan (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter
Marian) reached on an error.
Franklin Pierce broke the game open
in the seventh with four runs. Sophomore Eric Cavers
(Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) registered an RBI
double to left to score Shea with the first run of the frame. With
runners on second and third and one out, Stonehill opted to
intentionally walk McAuliffe to load the bases and Close cleared
the bases with a triple off the wall in center to round out the
scoring.
| Teams
| 1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| R
| H
| E
|
| SC
| 1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 9
| 2
|
| FP
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 1
| 4
| 0
| x
| 6
| 7
| 0
|
BOX
SCORE
Batteries:
FP -Tyler Cummings and Eric Cavers
SC - Mitchell, Henry (8), and Schlittler
WP: Cummings
(6-4)
LP: Mitchell (2-2)
