Cote and Rivers lead Ravens to seventh-straight win in
rain-shortened affair
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April
25, 2007) - Franklin Pierce, ranked 8th in this
week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)
Division II poll and 15th in the Collegiate
Baseball magazine Division II rankings, collected a
rain-shortened 3-0 victory over American International College in
Northeast-10 Conference baseball action at AIC Park this afternoon.
The game was called due to rain in the middle of the sixth, but the
game reverted to the last completed inning for a five run contest.
Sophomore lefthander Tom
Cote (Swanzey, Mass./Monadnock Regional) and freshman
Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) led
the way for Franklin Pierce, which are now winners of 11 of its
last 12 and 23 of 25. Cote held AIC to just a single hit in the
five scoreless innings, striking out nine with four walks to pick
up his team-leading sixth win of the season (6-1). Rivers was
2-for-2 at the plate with his Conference-leading 16th
double of the season and an RBI.
Seniors Vinny Pennell
(Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) and Jake Christman
(Newton, Mass./Newton South) both chipped in by going 1-3
with a run scored.
Junior Jeff Rustico
(Plantsville, Conn./Southington) notched AIC's lone hit
and finished 1-for-2. Freshman Nick Noblit (Westfield,
Mass./St. Mary's) suffered the loss (0-3) as he
surrendered three runs, just one earned, on four hits and three
walks with four strikeouts over five innings.
Franklin Pierce took immediate
control with a pair of runs in the first, taking advantage of two
AIC errors and three wild pitches. Pennell reached on an error to
lead off the frame, advanced to second and later third on wild
pitches by Noblit before scoring when junior Kevin Renaud
(Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) reached on an error on
what should have been the third out of the frame. After Rivers
singled, Renaud scored on another wild pitch.
That would be all Cote would need,
as he was perfect through the first two, striking out six of the
first seven batters he faced, before walking the second batter of
the third inning. Rustico's leadoff single broke up the no-hit bid
in the fourth.
The Ravens added another run in the
third as Christman led off with a single and later scored on
Rivers' double. They had tacked on three more in the top of the
sixth, but those runs were washed away as the Yellow Jackets were
not able to complete their at bat in the bottom of the frame.
Franklin Pierce (36-6, 21-2 NE-10)
is back in action tomorrow when it visits Stonehill College at 3:30
p.m. The Ravens are back home on Sunday when they host UMass Lowell
at noon. American International (8-22, 4-16 NE-10) travels to
Assumption College tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.
Boxscore
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