Ravens host unbeaten Dominican Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
RINDGE, N.H. (May 20, 2006)
- Top-seeded and 11th-ranked Franklin Pierce
stayed alive and eliminated third-seeded UMass Lowell with a 10-6
victory in game eight of the 2006 NCAA Division II Northeast
Regional at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce (42-11) will face
unbeaten and fifth-seeded Dominican College (42-16) tomorrow at
9:30 a.m. The Chargers improved to 2-0 in the regional earlier in
the day with an 8-7 victory over UMass Lowell (37-14) this morning.
Fourth-seeded Southern Connecticut State University (35-18) avoided
elimination and knocked out sixth-seeded Dowling College (31-15) in
Saturday's second game. Sunday's game schedule is below.
Senior right-hander
Tyler Cummings (South Paris, Maine/Oxford
Hills), senior All-American Bryan
Duplissie (East Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock Regional) and
sophomore Matt Anderson (Medford,
Mass./Medford) led Franklin Pierce this
afternoon.
Cummings collected his ninth win of
the year (9-1), allowing four runs, three earned, on nine hits and
three strikeouts with two walks in eight innings of work to collect
his 26th career victory. Senior Mike Farrell
(Russell, Mass./Gateway Regional) collected his
fourth save of the season as he retired the only batter he faced
after entering the game with runners on first and second after
UMass Lowell had already scored twice in the inning.
Anderson was 3-for-4 with a pair of
home runs, three RBI and two runs scored. The homers were the first
of his collegiate career and came on back-to-back at bats in the
fourth and fifth innings. His first homer came on his
296th career at bat.
Duplissie was 4-for-5 with a home
run, two RBI and two runs scored. The two RBI give him a
Northeast-10 Conference-best 58 for the season, surpassing the
single-season program record of 57 set by Henry Wilson in 1996.
Junior All-American
Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford
Hills) also played a big role in the Ravens 15-hit
attack, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored, while freshman
Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth
North) was 2-4 with two RBI. Senior Mike
Chambers (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) chipped in
his seventh homer of the season and scored three runs.
Junior Patrick Wilson
(Dracut, Mass./Bishop Guertin) paced UMass Lowell as
he hit 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI.
Sophomore Tim Manton (Swansea, Mass./Joseph
Case) was 2-4 with a double, stolen base and two runs
scored, while junior Steve Paddock (Milford,
Mass./Milford) was 2-4 with a double and RBI. Senior
Bob Theriault (Lowell, Mass./Lowell)
contributed his third homer of the year in his final collegiate
game.
Junior Kevin Graham
(Billerica, Mass./Billerica) took the loss, yielding
five earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and no walks over
four-plus innings.
For the first time in the regional
tournament, Franklin Pierce was able to gain an early lead with a
run in the first. Chambers was hit by a pitch, and reached third on
an Olson single, before scoring on a single from Duplissie.
UMass Lowell knotted the score
thanks to the Ravens fifth outfield error of the tournament in the
third. The Ravens quickly regained the lead in the third as Olson
reached on an infield single and later scored on Savastano's single
to center.
Anderson led off the fourth with
his first home run in the fourth, but Wilson's two-run shot knotted
the score again in the top of the fifth (3-3). The homer was the
first off Cummings since Franklin Pierce's season-opening loss at
New Jersey Institute of Technology on March 5, 2004 - ending a
streak of 161.2 innings pitched without yielding a home run.
The Ravens scored four in the
fifth, capped by a two-run Anderson blast to deep leftfield.
Franklin Pierce gained some insurance with two more in the sixth on
s olo homers from Chambers and Duplissie.
UML refused to go out quietly as
Theriault smacked a solo homer in the eighth, which was answered by
an RBI single from Savastano in the home half, but forced the
Ravens into a save situation with two in the ninth. One run scored
on a sacrifice fly on a foul ball from Wilson, before Paddock
delivered an RBI double with two out.
2006 NCAA Division II
Northeast Regional Championship
Dr. Pappas Field, Rindge, N.H.
Remaining Schedule (Regional Record in parenthesis)
Sunday, May 21:
G9: #5 Dominican (2-0) at #1 Franklin Pierce (2-1), 9:30
a.m.
G10: #5 Dominican vs. # 4 Southern Connecticut
(2-1), 1 p.m.
G11: if necessary, 4:30 p.m.
Scenarios:
Dominican wins the regional with wins in games 9 &
10.
If Franklin Pierce wins G9 it moves to regional final to face
either Southern Connecticut or Dominican.
If Franklin Pierce wins G9 and Southern Connecticut wins G10, they
will play for the regional title Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
If Dominican wins and loses any combination of games 9 & 10,
Game 11 will be play Monday at a time to be determined by the NCAA
Committee.
Boxscore
& Play-by-Play
