Olson, Pennell pace Ravens to opening victory
RINDGE, N.H. (May 14, 2004)
- Top-seeded Franklin Pierce eliminated second-seeded New
Jersey Institute of Technology with a 10-6 victory in game two of
the 2004 ECAC Division II Baseball Championship at Crystal Field
this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce (30-22), which
reached the 30-win plateau for the third-straight season, will now
face third-seeded Wilmington (Del.) College (21-24) in a
best-of-three ECAC Championship series beginning later today. NJIT
(23-24) sees its season come to a close after it was defeated by
Wilmington, 12-0, in today's first game.
Freshman third baseman
Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford
Hills) led the way for Franklin Pierce as he was a
perfect 5-for-5
at the plate with two runs scored,
an RBI and stolen base. Classmate Vinny Pennell
(Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) was 3-5 with two runs
scored, a home run and three RBI. Senior Dante
Blancarte (South Berwick, Maine/Amesbury (Mass.)) hit
2-5 with two runs scored, a homer and two RBI, while sophomore
Randy Fenton (Worcester, Mass./Doherty)
finished 2-4 with an RBI.
Junior right-hander
Ryan Bowling (Cedar Springs, Mich./Cedar
Springs) picked up the win with 4.2 innings of no-hit
shutout relief, fanning three and walking two.
Freshman Dan Morogiello
(Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) led
NJIT's offense as he hit 3-4 with an RBI. Junior Philip
Resciniti (East Hanover, N.J./Hanover Park) was 2-4
with two runs scored, a home run and RBI, while sophomore
Justin Racz (Parsippany, N.J./Parsippany)
finished 2-5 with a double and stolen
base.
Junior Dennis Keefe
(Linden, N.J./Linden) suffered the loss (4-5) as he
yielded six earned runs on seven hits with a walk and three
strikeouts in 3.2 innings before leaving the game with an injury.
Franklin Pierce jumped ahead with a
six-run third as junior Eric Cavers (Otisfield,
Maine/Oxford Hills) scored on an error, Blancarte
belted a two-run homer and Pennell followed with his first career
home run, a three-run shot, to right-center.
After NJIT answered with a pair in
the top of the fourth, the Ravens added another run in the home
half, before the Highlanders closed to within a run with four in
the fifth. Sophomore Chris Legiadre (Manalapan,
N.J./Manalapan) opened things with an RBI single to
right, followed by a pinch-hit RBI single from senior
Ryan Held (Wayne, N.J./Don Bosco).
Morogiello added an RBI single through the left side and the
Highlanders plated another run on a wild pitch to cap the inning.
Franklin Pierce put the game away
with a three-run seventh. Fenton singled through the right side to
score a run and sophomore Elliott Shea (Jaffrey,
N.H./Conant) added a two-run single down the
leftfield line, which was enough of a lead for Bowling to hold.
BOXSCORE
& PLAY-BY-PLAY
