Hayes RBI double lifts Ravens past Chieftains

LOWELL, Mass. (May 9, 2003) - Franklin Pierce, ranked fourth in this week's NCAA Division II Northeast Regional poll, escaped with a 1-0 victory over Stonehill College in 12 innings in Northeast-10 Conference Tournament play in LeLacheur Park this afternoon.

Markey Division champion Franklin Pierce (26-13) will now play Pepin Division champ UMass Lowell (27-10) tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Stonehill (25-15-1) must now come out of the loser's bracket and will face the loser of the UML/Saint Rose matchup tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Freshman shortstop Shawn Hayes (Charlton, Mass./Holy Name) drove in the winning run with two outs when he laced a double off the base of the leftfield wall to score Greg Basile (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) who reached base with a single through the right side.

Both starters pitched into the tenth inning with no results for their efforts. Franklin Pierce junior right-hander Matt Weagle (Charlton, Mass./Shephard Hill) was perfect through the first 5.1 innings, before Stonehill junior Joe Mastromonaco drew a one-out walk, and carried a no-hitter into the ninth. Mastromonaco was the nemesis once again, with a single up the middle to open the frame. Weagle pitched 11 one-hit shutout innings with a career-high 16 strikeouts and just one walk. The 11 innings of work surpassed his own program record of ten innings pitched set as a freshman and matched in his last outing at Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday. Basile picked up the win (2-0) with a perfect inning of relief of Weagle, fanning one.

Sophomore left-hander Billy McLane went 9.1 shutout innings for Stonehill, scattering seven hits with no walks. Freshman Billy Sittig suffered the loss (4-2) as he yielded an earned run on four hits with a strikeout and a walk over the final 2.1 innings.

Seniors Mike Callahan (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter Marian) and Josh Coughlin (Keene, N.H./Keene) each registered a pair of hits for the Ravens with Coughlin also picking up a stolen base. In addition to his gamewinning double, Hayes also stole a base.

Mastromonaco finished 1-2 with a walk for Stonehill with the only other Chieftain to reach base being freshman Brian Nelson, who was hit by a Weagle pitch in the 11th.

Neither team had a runner reach third base until Franklin Pierce had runners on second and third in the seventh. The Ravens failed to score as freshman Mike Chambers (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) grounded out to short, ending the inning. Stonehill had a runner on third in the ninth when junior Dan Mattia, who pinch ran for Mastromonaco after he singled, but Weagle got junior Pat Driscoll to fly out to centerfield.

The win is the first for Franklin Pierce in three Northeast-10 Conference Tournament games in program history and also snaps an 0-9 string all-time at LeLacheur Park dating back to 1998. 

 BOX SCORE

Batteries:
FP -Matt Weagle, Greg Basile (12) and Eric Cavers.
SC - McLane, Sittig (10) and Schlittler

WP: Basile (2-0)
LP: Sittig (4-2)