Top-seeded Ravens defeat third-seeded Bryant twice to claim
second NE-10 Tournament title in three years
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LOWELL, Mass. (May 13,
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, defeated third-seeded Bryant
University twice to capture its second Northeast-10 Conference
Baseball Tournament title in three years at LeLacheur Park this
afternoon. The Ravens forced the "if necessary game" with a 4-2
victory in game one, before capturing the title with a 4-3 victory
over the Bulldogs to complete the sweep.
Franklin Pierce (45-9, 26-4 NE-10)
earns the Northeast-10 Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA
Division II Tournament and is expected to be named host of the
Northeast Regional for the third-straight year when bids are
announced on Monday. Bryant (32-22, 21-9 NE-10) awaits word on one
of three at-large bids to the six team regional set get underway on
Thursday.
Junior leftfielder Kevin
Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) was named the
Tournament's Most Valuable Player as he hit a combined .409
(9-for-22) over Franklin Pierce's five games at the tournament with
four runs scored, a double, two home runs and four RBI.
Franklin Pierce 4, Bryant
2
Sophomore Scott Savastano
(Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) and freshman
Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern)
collected RBI singles in the bottom of the eighth to put Franklin
Pierce in front for good and force a deciding game nine for the
tournament.
Savastano finished 3-for-4 with an
RBI and run scored, while Kevin Renaud hit 2-4. Rivers hit 1-3 with
an RBI and run scored, while junior Tyler Bishop (Milford,
N.H./Milford) notched a pinch-hit RBI single for the
Ravens.
Senior reliever Clay
Jenkins (Easton, N.H./Profile) posted his sixth win of the
season on the mound (6-1) with two innings of one-hit shutout
relief of freshman starter Kyle Vazquez (Berlin,
Conn./Berlin), striking out two. Vazquez yielded two
earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and three walks over
seven-plus innings of work.
Junior Mark Dondero
(Medfield, Mass./Xaverian) led Bryant as he hit 3-for-4
with a double and RBI. Sophomore David Muscatello
(Hopkinton, Mass./UConn) was 1-4 with an RBI.
Freshman Eric Polvani
(Wallingford, Conn./Sheehan) suffered the loss (1-4) for
the Bulldogs, surrendering an earned run on a hit and walk over a
third of an inning. Freshman starter Brent Almeida
(Fairhaven, Mass./Fairhaven) allowed two runs, one earned,
on four hits and a walk with one strikeout in 6.1 innings.
The game was scoreless until the
seventh as the two freshman starters posted zeroes until Franklin
Pierce put two across the plate. Bishop drove in Rivers
(hit-by-pitch) with a two-out single to right with the bases loaded
and senior Kim Hart (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) came in
to score on an error by the Bryant right fielder.
Bryant answered right away with two
in the top of the eighth to knot the score, taking advantage of two
Franklin Pierce errors. Dondero drove in freshman Jeff
Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor), who reached
with a leadoff single, with a single through the left side with
none out. The tying run scored one batter later when Muscatello
reached on an error.
Senior Vinny Pennell
(Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) drew a leadoff walk for
Franklin Pierce in the home half of the eighth, was sacrificed to
second and scored on Savastano's two-out single to center.
Savastano later scored on Rivers single to right.
Boxscore
& Play-by-Play
Franklin Pierce 4, Bryant
3
Junior Keith Renaud
(Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) scored on a wild pitch in
the bottom of the seventh inning and Franklin Pierce held on the
rest of the way to capture its second NE-10 Tournament title in
program history with a 4-3 victory in the decisive game two.
Kevin Renaud hit 3-for-4 with a run
scored, while Scott Savastano finished 2-4 with a stolen base and
run scored. Kevin Rivers battered 1-2 with a home run, stolen base,
run scored and RBI, while Keith Renaud was 1-4 with a run
scored.
Sophomore lefthander Tom
Cote (Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock Regional) collected his
team-leading seventh win (7-1) of the season, allowing three runs,
two earned, on three hits with four walks and a strikeout over
eight innings. Tyler Bishop notched his program-record ninth save
of the season with a perfect ninth.
Jeff Vigurs and senior Mike
Rocco (Tewksbury, Mass./Tewksbury) were both 1-for-4 for
Bryant with an RBI each, while Vigurs also notched a double.
Junior Eric Loh (Old
Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) suffered the loss (7-3) for
the Bulldogs, allowing four runs, two earned, on 12 hits with two
strikeouts and no walks.
Bryant opened the scoring in game
two with a single run in the top of the first as Rocco's two-out
infield single scored junior Jason Alexander (Simsbury,
Conn./Simsbury). Franklin Pierce answered in the second as
Rivers led off with his fifth home run of the season to right.
The Bulldogs regained the lead with
a run in the third thanks to a pair of Raven errors. Franklin
Pierce scored two in the home half of the frame to take its first
lead of the contest. Kevin Renaud and Savastano led off the inning
with singles and later scored when senior Jake Christman
(Newton, Mass./Newton South) reached on an error at first
base with two out.
Bryant knotted the score at 3-3 in
the sixth as Vigurs doubled in freshman Nick Campbell
(Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) with two outs.
Franklin Pierce went ahead for good as Keith Renaud singled up the
middle with one out in the seventh and later scored on wild pitch.
Boxscore
& Play-by-Play
