Third-seeded Ravens to face NYCAC Champions and No. 2-seeded
Dowling on Thursday
RINDGE, N.H. (May 12,
2003) - The Franklin Pierce baseball team has earned its
first ever invitation to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The
announcement was made today by the NCAA Baseball Championship
committee. Franklin Pierce (27-15), which claimed its first ever
Northeast-10 Conference Markey Division title, received the No.
3-seed at this weekend's Northeast Regional and will face
second-seeded Dowling College (29-9), which claimed its first New
York Collegiate Athletic Conference (NYCAC) over the weekend, in
day one action of the double-elimination regional on Thursday at 3
p.m.
Top-seeded and No. 16-ranked
University of Massachusetts Lowell (30-10) is the regional host
with all games played at LeLachuer Park. The River Hawks, who
topped Franklin Pierce, 4-1, in yesterday's NE-10 Championship
game, will face fourth-seeded University of New Haven (26-10) in
Friday's second game at 7 p.m.
Franklin Pierce, which advanced to
the NE-10 title game yesterday for the first time in program
history, has reached the postseason in each of the last four
seasons. The Ravens captured the 2002 ECAC Division II Championship
a year ago and claimed the NE-10 Markey Division's top seed in last
weekend's Conference Championship. Franklin Pierce enters the
NCAA's winners of five of its last seven and nine of 12.
Thursday will mark just the second
meeting all-time between Franklin Pierce and Dowling - both coming
in postseason play. The Golden Lions eliminated the Ravens in the
2000 ECAC Division II Tournament with a 3-2 victory in Holbrook,
N.Y.
Franklin Pierce will return to
using aluminum bats for the first time since a 5-0 non-conference
victory over Teikyo Post University on March 25. The Ravens were
7-4 with aluminum bats this spring and hit .318 as a team, posting
a 2.52 team ERA and holding opposing batters to a .204 batting
average in 82 innings. With the Northeast-10 Conference-mandated
wood bats, the Ravens were 20-11, hit .280, posted a 2.89 ERA and
held opposing batters to a .236 average in 270.2 innings.
Seniors Paul McAuliffe
(Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) and Josh
Coughlin (Keene, N.H./Keene) were the Ravens top
hitters with aluminum bats this season. Coughlin is hitting .417
(10-24) with nine runs scored, a double, triple and seven RBI in
eight games, while McAuliffe is batting .405 (15-37) with 12 runs
scored, four doubles, a triple, a home run and four RBI in 11
games.
Senior right-hander Jon
White (Medford, Mass./Arlington) boasted a 0.43 ERA
against aluminum bats with 18 strikeouts and three walks in 21
innings over three starts (2-1 record). Opposing batters hit just
.203 against him. Junior right-hander Matt Weagle
(Charlton, Mass./Shephard Hill) was 2-0 with a 1.62
ERA, 16 strikeouts and no walks over 16.2 innings, holding opposing
batters to a .200 average.
Weagle, named the Northeast-10
Conference Pitcher of the Year today, leads the Ravens into the
regional with the second-ranked team ERA in the Conference (fourth
in Division II) at 2.81. Weagle, the No. 4-ranked Pro Prospect in
Division II by Baseball America, is 7-1 this spring with a
Conference-low 1.29 ERA, 82 strikeouts (2nd NE-10) and just nine
walks in 76.2 innings (1st) with opposing batters hitting a
Conference-low .178 against him. He opened the NE-10 Tournament for
the Ravens with 11 one-hit shutout innings against Stonehill
College on Friday afternoon, fanning a career-best 16 batters with
just one walk as the Ravens went on to post a 1-0 victory in 12
innings. He was perfect through the first 5.1 innings and carried a
no-hitter into the ninth before surrendering a leadoff single.
White, a third team All-Conference
honoree, is 5-4 this spring with a 2.92 ERA, 57 strikeouts (8th
NE-10) and ten walks in 71 innings (5th). Freshman
Tyler Cummings (South Paris, Maine/Oxford
Hills) has won three-straight decisions and is 6-4
with a 2.85 ERA, 66 strikeouts (6th NE-10) and 14 walks in 60
innings of work with opposing batters hitting just .183 against
him. He is just one victory shy of Chris Shank's freshman wins
record set in 2000.
Junior Dante Blancarte
(Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury), a first team
All-Conference selection, leads the Ravens with a .346 batting
average (10th NE-10), 11 doubles, a triple, three home runs and
Conference-best 40 RBI.
Senior Dan Close
(Leominster, Mass./Leominster), a second-team
All-NE-10 pick, is hitting .331 with 31 runs scored, nine doubles,
two triples, three homers and 32 RBI (7th). Over the last two
weeks, Close has been swinging an especially hot bat, hitting .463
(25-54) with 12 runs scored, four doubles, two triples, two homers
and 16 RBI over the last 13 games. During that time he is slugging
.722 and carries a team season-high matching 14-game hitting streak
into the regional.
Freshman Elliott Shea
(Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) has been an impact player,
hitting .310 with a homer, 17 RBI and seven steals, while
McAuliffe, a second team All-Conference honoree, is batting .304
for the season with 33 runs scored, eight doubles, three triples,
three homers and 13 RBI.
Franklin Pierce is 4-6 all-time in
postseason play after going 2-2 over the weekend at the
Northeast-10 Conference championships. The Ravens have only played
UMass Lowell so far this season, with the River Hawks winning all
four encounters including two over the weekend at the NE-10
Tournament. Franklin Pierce and New Haven had a non-conference game
in April rained out. The Chargers lead the all-time series between
the two former New England Collegiate Conference schools, 19-2.
2003 NCAA DIVISION II
NORTHEAST REGIONAL BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Double-Elimination
Hosted by UMass Lowell
LeLachuer Park - Lowell, Mass.
Thursday, May 15
Game 1: #3 Franklin Pierce (27-15) vs. #2
Dowling (29-9), 3 p.m.
Game 2: #4 New Haven (26-10) at UMass
Lowell (30-10), 7 p.m.
Friday, May 16
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 11
a.m.
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner,
3 p.m.
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 7
p.m.
Saturday, May 17
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 11
a.m.
Game 7: if necessary, (30 minutes
following conclusion of game 6)
