Top-seeded Ravens fall to
#3 Bryant 7-3 in winner's bracket semifinal Ravens remain
alive with 5-1 victory over fourth-seeded Pace in evening
elimination game
LOWELL, Mass. (May 12,
2007) - Top-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked ninth in this
week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA)
Division II poll and 14th in the Collegiate
Baseball magazine rankings, staved off elimination to advance
to the championship round of the 2007 Northeast-10 Conference
baseball championships, hosted by the University of Massachusetts
Lowell, at LeLacheur Park tonight. The Ravens fell 7-3 to
third-seeded Bryant University in game six of the tournament,
before posting a 5-1 victory over fourth-seeded Pace University in
game seven to advance to the championship round for the third time
in program history.
Franklin Pierce (43-9, 26-4 NE-10)
will need to defeat Bryant (32-20, 21-9 NE-10) twice to claim its
second NE-10 Tournament title in three years, while the Bulldogs
will looking to claim their first tournament title since 1999
tomorrow at noon. Pace (30-26, 18-12 NE-10) defeated second-seeded
and host UMass Lowell, 4-0, in this morning's elimination round
contest to advance to tonight's game with the Ravens.
Franklin Pierce 5, Pace
1
Franklin Pierce remained alive
behind the arm of senior preseason All-American Arric
Mather (Danville, N.H./Winnacunnet), who earned his
team-leading sixth win of the season on the mound in the nightcap.
Mather (6-1) allowed just one earned run on three hits with six
strikeouts and three walks in the complete game effort for the
Ravens.
Junior Keith Renaud
(Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) led the offense as he hit
2-for-3 with a run scored and stolen base. Twin brother
Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) was
1-5 with a home run and two RBI, while sophomore Scott
Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) finished 2-4
with a stolen base. Senior Jake Christman (Newton,
Mass./Newton South) hit 2-4 with a run scored.
Junior Neil Ross (Cortland
Manor, N.Y./Dominican) had two of Pace's three hits on the
night, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base, while junior Matt
Arburr (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) finished 1-4 with
a triple and RBI.
Post grad Justin Kanellis
(Lansing, N.Y./Lansing Central) took the loss (2-4) on the
mound for the Setters, yielding five runs, three earned, on six
hits with four strikeouts and three walks over four innings.
For the first time in the
championship, Franklin Pierce struck first scoring three times in
the second inning, aided by a pair of Pace errors. Christman
singled to center and later scored on a sacrifice fly by senior
Cory Shepherd (Worcester, Mass./Burncoat). The
Ravens added two in the fifth as Keith Renaud led off with a single
through the left side, before Kevin Renaud chased Kanellis with a
two-run blast to left.
Pace broke up Mather's shutout bid
with an unearned run on the ninth. Sophomore Andre
Liscinsky (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) reached on a throwing
error to lead off the inning and later scored with Arburr's one out
triple to center.
Boxscore
& Play-by-Play
Bryant 7, Franklin Pierce
3
Franklin Pierce left 14 runners on
base in falling to Bryant, 7-3, in Saturday's winner's bracket
semifinal. Both teams collected ten hits on the afternoon and while
the Bulldogs worked around four errors, one Raven error and a
passed ball resulted in four unearned runs for the winners.
Freshman Nick Campbell
(Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) led Bryant as he hit
3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and two RBI, while
junior Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury)
was 2-4 with two stolen bases, a run scored and RBI. Junior
Mike Dondero (Medfield, Mass./Xaverian) batted 1-3
with a double, run scored and RBI. Freshman Taylor Ferguson
(Charlton, Mass./St. John's) finished 1-4 with a double,
stolen base, RBI and two runs
scored.
Sophomore Kevin Cobb
(Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxboro) improved to 6-1 on the year
for the Bulldogs, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with four
strikeouts and three walks over 5.1 innings. Freshman Eric
Polvani (Wallingford, Conn./Sheehan) finished it off over
the final 3.1 innings, surrendering an earned run on three hits
with a strikeout and walk.
Junior Matt Anderson
(Medford, Mass./Medford) led Franklin Pierce, going
2-for-4 with an RBI, while Keith Renaud was 2-5 with a double and
RBI. Freshman Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol
Eastern) batted 2-4 with his Conference-leading
20th double of the season.
Renaud suffered the loss on the
mound (5-2), yielding four runs, three earned, on five hits with
five strikeouts and three walks over 5.1 innings. Senior
Andrew McNulty (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) returned
to the mound for the first time since March 22 and completed 3.1
innings of scoreless relief, scattering two hits and a walk with
two strikeouts.
Bryant scored first with a single
run in the first as Alexander was hit by a pitch, stole second and
later scored on a double down the left field line with one out by
Campbell. Franklin Pierce evened the score in the second when Jake
Christman scored on a wild pitch.
Bryant scored twice in the third as
Ferguson drew a leadoff walk and scored on an RBI single by
Campbell before freshman Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor,
Conn./Wouth Windsor) notched an RBI single through the
left side. The Bulldogs broke the game open with four in the sixth
to open a 7-1 gap. Dondero and Ferguson each collected an RBI
doubles, while Alexander had an RBI single and another run scored
on a safety squeeze bunt by sophomore Dave Muscatello
(Hopkinton, Mass./UConn).
Franklin Pierce had opportunities
to pull back into the game, coming up empty after loading the bases
with none out in the third. The Ravens scored single runs in the
sixth and ninth. Keith Renaud had an RBI single to left in the
sixth and Scott Savastano led off the ninth with a triple and
scored when Anderson reached on an error.
Boxscore
& Play-by-Play
