Ravens advance to winner's bracket semifinal, will face
fourth-seeded UMass Lowell tomorrow at 2 p.m.
LOWELL, Mass. (May 13,
2005) - Second-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 27 in
this week's Collegiate Baseball magazine Division II poll,
posted a 7-3 victory over third-seeded Stonehill College in game
three of the 2005 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championship,
presented by UBS and hosted by the University of Massachusetts
Lowell, at LeLacheur Park this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce (28-12, 21-9 NE-10)
advances to tomorrow's winner's bracket semifinal where it will
face fourth-seeded UMass Lowell (27-16, 17-13 NE-10) approximately
30 minutes upon the conclusion of tomorrow's first game. The River
Hawks upset top-seeded and No. 24-ranked Southern Connecticut State
University (28-11, 25-5 NE-10) 1-0 in ten innings in today's second
game. Stonehill (25-19, 17-13 NE-10) and Southern Connecticut will
play an elimination game at 11 a.m.
The bottom half of the Franklin
Pierce lineup did most of the damage this afternoon as the Ravens
banged out 13 hits, reaching double-figures for the third-straight
game and 22nd time overall. The number five through nine
batters were a combined 9-for-13.
Junior Bryan Duplissie
(East Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock Regional) led the
Franklin Pierce offense, as he was 3-for-3 with a walk and two
doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. Sophomore Kim Hart
(Gorham, Maine/Gorham) hit 2-3 with a double and two
RBI, while classmate Vinny Pennell (Spencer,
Mass./David Prouty) was 1-3 with two RBI. Freshman
Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford)
finished 2-4 with an RBI.
Senior Bryan Borowski
(Clarksburg, Mass./Drury) improved to 7-1 on the
year, yielding three earned runs on five hits and two walks with
three strikeouts over seven innings of work. Sophomore
Eric Grabowski (Worcester, Mass./David
Prouty) picked up his first save of the season as he
came on with the bases loaded in the eighth and retired all five
batters he faced with two strikeouts.
Junior T.J. Piscatelli
(Norfolk, Mass./Xavarian) and sophomore
Adam Pardo (Hanover, Mass./Hanover) were
both 2-for-3 with a double and run scored for Stonehill. Senior
Craig Audette (Raynham,
Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) finished 1-2 with a pair
of walks and two RBI.
Senior Billy McLane
(Plymouth, N.H./Plymouth) suffered the loss (6-5),
surrendering five runs, four earned, on seven hits with two
strikeouts and a walk in three
innings.
Franklin Pierce struck first with
two runs in the first, scoring in the first inning for the 20th
time this season (16-4 record). Junior Elliott Shea
(Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) tripled with one out and
scored on a Duplissie single up the middle. Pennell singled to left
with two out, scoring junior Mike Chambers
(Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry), who had walked.
Stonehill struck for three in the
third to take a 3-2 lead. The Chieftains loaded the bases with none
out and Audette delivered a two-run single to right before the
final run scored on a double play.
The Ravens answered right back with
three in the home half. Junior Shawn Hayes (Charlton,
Mass./Holy Name) singled and scored on a sacrifice
fly from Pennell that was dropped by the leftfielder. Duplissie,
who had roped his first double of the afternoon down the leftfield
line, advanced to third and scored on consecutive McLane wild
pitches. Hart drove in Pennell with a sac fly to left.
Franklin Pierce broke the game open
with two in the fifth. Duplissie led the frame off with a double
off the base of the wall in right center and scored on a Hart
double to right center. Anderson drove home Hart with a single to
right center.
Stonehill threatened in the eighth,
loading the bases with one out off Franklin Pierce reliever
Mike Farrell (Russell, Mass./Gateway
Regional), but Grabowski entered and got out of the
jam by getting a fly ball to shallow center and a ground out. He
retired the side in order in the ninth, fanning the last two
batters of the game.
BOX
SCORE & PLAY-BY-PLAY
