Ravens cruise to 20-3 triumph in game one, McNulty no-hitter
highlights 7-0 victory in nightcap
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.
(March 16, 2007) - Franklin Pierce, ranked 17th
in this week's Collegiate Baseball magazine Division II
poll and first in the Northeast Region, opened its spring break
trip with commanding offensive and pitching performances to sweep
Bloomfield College of New Jersey in an in-region doubleheader at
Santaluces Sportplex this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce scored the first 20
runs of the contest in rolling to a 20-3 victory in game one,
before senior right-hander Andrew McNulty (Norwood,
Mass./Norwood), a transfer from Seton Hall University,
fired the fifth no-hitter in program history as the Ravens posted a
7-0 victory in the nightcap.
Freshman Kevin Rivers
(Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) was a combined 5-for-9
offensively for Franklin Pierce in the twin bill, with a double,
three runs scored and three RBI.
Franklin Pierce 20,
Bloomfield 3
Franklin Pierce banged out 19 hits and built a 20-0 lead after five
and a half innings in its 19-3 victory in game
one.
Kevin Rivers was 3-for-5 with two
RBI and two runs scored, while sophomore Cliff Hicks
(Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) hit 2-3 with a grand slam and
two runs scored. Senior Vinny Pennell (Spencer, Mass./David
Prouty) was 3-4 with a double, run scored, four RBI and a
stolen base, while junior Keith Renaud (Southbridge,
Mass./Southbridge), a transfer from Becker College, was a
perfect 4-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI. Junior
Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) continued
his torrid start by going 2-3 with a triple, three runs scored and
two RBI.
Sophomore Tom Cote
(Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock Regional), a transfer from
Massachusetts, picked up his second win of the season (2-0) with
five shutout innings, yielding just one hit with a strikeout and
three walks for the Ravens. He has now opened the season with 14.1
innings without yielding an earned run (just one run in
all).
Senior lefthander Joe
O'Donnell (Middlesex, N.J.) suffered the loss for
Bloomfield, surrendering 12 runs, ten earned, on 15 hits with six
walks and three strikeouts over 4.1 innings. Junior Alex
Munoz (Perth Amboy, N.J.) hit 3-for-3 for the Deacons.
After a scoreless first inning,
Franklin Pierce broke on top with three in the second. Pennell
sparked the inning with an RBI double, while Hicks, Renaud and
senior Cory Shepherd (Worcester, Mass./Burncoat),
a Becker transfer, each contributed RBI singles.
The Ravens added two more in the
third on an RBI single from senior Jake Christman (Newton,
Mass./Newton South) and a sac fly from Shepherd, before
breaking the game open with four in the fourth and fifth innings.
Pennell, Renaud and Rivers all collected RBI singles in the fourth,
while Anderson had an RBI triple and senior Kim Hart
(Gorham, Maine/Gorham) chipped in an RBI double. Hicks'
grand slam for his first collegiate home run put the Ravens four
runs across in the fifth.
Franklin Pierce scored six in the
sixth before Bloomfield got on the board with two in the sixth and
one in the seventh off a pair of Raven relievers.
BOXCORE
& PLAY-BY-PLAY
Franklin Pierce 7,
Bloomfield 0
Andrew McNulty fired the fifth no-hitter in program
history to lead Franklin Pierce to a 7-0 victory in the nightcap.
He scattered five walks while striking out seven over the
seven-inning contest for his third win of the season (3-0),
producing the second no-hitter by a Raven pitcher in as many
seasons. Daniel Fournier tossed a no-hitter against Southern
Connecticut State University on March 28, 2006. McNulty has yielded
just one earned run (two total) in 20 innings to start the
season.
Kevin Rivers led the Franklin
Pierce offense, hitting 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored.
Kim Hart was 2-3 with two RBI and a run scored, while Jake
Christman finished 1-1 with a double and two walks, two runs scored
and a stolen base.
Sophomore Michael
Buljalkowski (South Amboy, N.J.) took the loss for
Bloomfield, yielding seven runs, six earned, on seven hits with
four strikeouts and four walks over five innings of work.
Franklin Pierce got all the runs it
would need with a four-run first. Vinny Pennell reached on an error
to lead of the frame and later scored on an error after a
Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge)
single to open the scoring. Matt Anderson followed with a sacrifice
fly to score Keith Renaud (single) and Rivers drove in a run on a
ground out. Christman doubled and scored on a Hart single.
The Ravens broke the game open with
three more in the fifth. Rivers doubled and Christman followed with
a single. After Christman stole second, Hart delivered an RBI
single, with a second run scoring as a result of a Bloomfield
error. Cory Shepherd capped the scoring with an RBI single.
BOXSCORE
& PLAY-BY-PLAY
Franklin Pierce (8-1, 0-0 NE-10) is
back in action tomorrow with another in-region doubleheader with
Molloy College, ranked ninth in the Northeast, here in Fort
Lauderdale beginning at 12:30 p.m. Bloomfield (5-11, 0-0 CACC) is
scheduled to visit Kean College after returning north on Monday at
3:30 p.m.
