River Hawks score three in the 11th to post second upset
of tournament
LOWELL, Mass. (May 7, 2004)
- Sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell scored
three runs in the top of the 11th inning to claim its
second upset victory of the week with a 4-1 decision over
second-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked fourth in this week's
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Northeast
Region poll, in game three of the 2004 Northeast-10 Conference
Baseball Championships at LeLacheur Park this afternoon.
UMass Lowell (20-21) advances to
tomorrow's winners bracket where it will face the winner of
tonight's game between top-seeded and No. 17-ranked Saint Anselm
College (30-18) and fifth-seeded Southern Connecticut State
University (28-20) at 3 p.m. Franklin Pierce (28-21) is relegated
to the loser's bracket and will face the losing team from tonight's
game tomorrow at 11 a.m. The Ravens will need to win twice on
Saturday to advance to the NE-10 Championship game for the second
straight year.
The victory was UMass Lowell's
second-straight against a higher seed in this week's NE-10
Tournament. UML posted a 2-1 ten-inning victory at third-seeded and
No. 25-ranked Bryant College in first round action on Wednesday to
advance to this weekend's double-elimination
round.
The River Hawks rode the left arm
of junior Brad Laurin (Dracut, Mass./Central
Catholic) to victory this afternoon. Laurin allowed
just one unearned run, scattering nine hits with ten strikeouts and
no walks in the 11-inning complete-game effort.
Sophomore Bob Theriault
(Lowell, Mass./Lowell) paced the UML offense as he
hit 3-for-5 with an RBI. Classmate Craig Carpenter
(Nashua, N.H./Nashua) was 2-4 with a triple and run
scored. Junior Nate Liebenow (Hampton,
N.H./Winnacunnet) doubled and scored a run, while
senior Erik Thomas (Billerica,
Mass./Billerica) registered two RBI.
Franklin Pierce squandered a superb
start from junior right-hander Keith Brouillard
(Westport, Mass./Somerset), who didn't receive a
decision as he allowed just an earned run on five hits with eight
strikeouts and no walks in ten innings of work. Sophomore
Tyler Cummings (South Paris, Maine/Oxford
Hills) took the loss (3-3), as he was touched for
three earned runs on three hits and a walk in an inning of relief.
Freshman Garrett Olson
(Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) led the Ravens on
offense as he finished 3-5. Sophomore Randy Fenton
(Worcester, Mass./Doherty) hit 2-4 with a run scored,
while senior Dante Blancarte (South Berwick,
Maine/Amesbury (Mass.)) was
2-5.
In the decisive 11th,
the first four UMass Lowell batters reached base to greet Cummings,
who his first runs against a Conference opponent this season
after 15.1 scoreless entering the day. After a leadoff walk,
Liebenow doubled, followed by a two-run single by Thomas. Theriault
drove in Thomas, who had advanced to second on an error, with a
single to round out the scoring before Cummings retired the next
three batters in a row to end the rally. Laurin came on for his
11th inning of work and after Blancarte reached on an
error, fanned the next two batters to end the game.
Brouillard was breezing throughout
most of the game as he was perfect through the first three and two
thirds innings and retired 19 of the first 20 UMass Lowell batters
on the day. However, it was the River Hawks who struck first as
Carpenter led off the eighth with a triple off the rightfield wall
to mark the first UML batter to reach scoring position on the day.
Brouillard nearly escaped the threat unscathed, but freshman
Eric Smolin (Westford, Mass./Westford
Academy) beat out an infield single up the middle to
allow Carpenter to score.
Franklin Pierce answered right back
in the home half of the eighth as Fenton led off with a single to
left. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and then to third
on a groundout before scoring on a UML error on what should have
been an inning-ending groundout.
Boxscore
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