Spartans take advantage of ten walks for 21st-straight win
in battle of two hottest teams in Division II
TAMPA, Fla. (March 21,
2006) - Top-ranked University of Tampa rallied with four
runs over the final two innings, scoring the winning run in the
bottom of the ninth on a throwing error, to post a 9-8 victory over
Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 7 in this week's Collegiate
Baseball magazine Division II poll, in a battle of the two
hottest teams in Division II baseball at UT Baseball Field tonight.
Tampa, ranked No. 1 in both major
Division II polls, entered the game winners of a school-record
20-straight, while Franklin Pierce, also ranked 9th in
the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA)
Division II poll, had matched its program record with 12-straight
wins and was off to a 12-1 start for the first time in program
history.
Tampa's nine runs came on just six
hits as they took advantage of ten walks from Franklin Pierce
pitching with the winning run coming off the Ravens lone error of
the night. Franklin Pierce, meanwhile banged out 12 hits (its
13th-straight game with double-figure hits), but perhaps
let the Spartans off the hook a couple times as all eight runs were
earned despite four Tampa errors.
"Overall our pitching didn't give
us a chance to win tonight," said Head Coach Jayson
King. "You can't have a bunch of walks against good
teams, we needed to challenge their hitters
more."
Junior Troy Ferguson
(Rochester, Mass.) led the Tampa offense as he hit
2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Junior
Roberto Mena (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico)
was 2-4 with a double, RBI and run scored, while senior
Omar Rosales (Dade City, Fla.) was 2-4
with a double and run scored.
Senior Aaron Cook
(Rockledge, Fla.) picked up the win (2-1), retiring
the only two batters he faced in the top of the ninth. The Spartans
also got solid relief from senior Nick Peterson (Tampa,
Fla.), a transfer from Appalachian State, who yielded
just two hits with four strikeouts in three scoreless innings of
work. Tampa's bullpen allowed just two hits over the final six
innings.
"Peterson was the key for them,"
said King. "He came in and did a really nice job challenging our
hitters and allowed them to get back in the game."
Senior All-American
Bryan Duplissie (East Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock
Regional) led the Franklin Pierce offensive attack as
he was 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs and four RBI. Junior
Vinny Pennell (Spencer, Mass./David
Prouty) was a perfect 3-3 at the plate with a walk,
stolen base and run scored, while senior Randy Fenton
(Worcester, Mass./Doherty) was 2-4, extending his
current hitting streak to 11 games, with a homer and two RBI.
Junior Kim Hart (Gorham, Maine/Gorham)
finished 2-5 with a run scored, while senior Elliott
Shea (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) matched a school record
for the second time on the Ravens spring trip with three stolen
bases and also extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
"Our offense did well tonight,"
said King. "We scored eight runs against some good pitching and for
the most part played a clean game in the field. We had some chances
later in the game and probably could have used a couple more timely
hits, but in the end our walks cost
us."
Junior Eric Grabowski
(Worcester, Mass./David Prouty), who
earned a complete game win at top-ranked Tampa last year, lasted
just 2.2 innings tonight as he was touched for five earned runs by
walking seven and allowing two hits with three strikeouts.
Senior Mike Farrell
(Russell, Mass./Gateway Regional) wound
up allowing three earned runs on just two hits and three walks with
two strikeouts in five innings. Farrell faced the minimum, walking
just one, over his first 4.1 innings of work, but Rosales led off
the eighth with a double off the wall in left. Farrell walked two
of the next three batters to load the bases, and then allowed
Rosales to score on a balk. Senior J.R. Hopf (Tampa,
Fla.) drove in a second run while grounding out to
first, before Mena doubled down the line in left to knot the score.
Sophomore Tyler Bishop
(Milford, N.H./Milford), a transfer from Tampa, was
pinned with the loss (0-1), allowing the one unearned run on two
hits with a strikeout in two thirds of an inning. He retired the
only batter he faced in the bottom of the eighth and got a
strikeout with Ferguson on first with a leadoff single in the
ninth. Rosales followed with a single in the gap and Ferguson came
around with the winning run when shortstop Garrett
Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) threw the relay to
third into the stands.
Franklin Pierce jumped on the board
with six runs in the top of the first inning, marking the
fifth-straight game and 12th time in 14 games this
season the Ravens have scored in their first at bat. Olson led off
with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After senior
Mike Chambers (Londonderry,
N.H./Londonderry) was hit by a pitch, Duplissie
belted a three-run homer to left to open the scoring. Hart and
Pennell followed with singles before freshman Scott
Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) roped a
two-run double down the line in left. Fenton rounded out the
scoring with an RBI single.
Duplissie hit his second homer
(5th of the season) in as many innings in the second,
but Tampa struck for four in the home half of the frame after
Grabowski retired the first two batters of the inning. Two walks
and a Mena single set the stage for Ferguson, who pulled the
Spartans within three runs with a grand slam to right center.
Fenton hit his second homer of the
season in the third for Franklin Pierce, but Tampa got that run
back in the bottom of the inning without the benefit of a hit.
Grabowski walked the bases loaded with two out before getting
lifted for Farrell, who allowed a run score with a wild pitch.
The Ravens had runners in scoring
position in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, but could not
push any of them across, finishing the night with nine runners left
on base.
Franklin Pierce (12-2, 0-0 NE-10)
is back in action tomorrow when it travels to the east coast to
face Florida Institute of Technology, ranked eighth in this week's
National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division
II South Regional poll, at 3 p.m. Tampa (23-3, 6-0 SSC) opens a key
Sunshine State Conference series with No. 22 Florida Southern
College on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
Boxscore
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