Four different Ravens drive in a run

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (March 20, 2010) – Senior second baseman Cody Kauffman (Blue Bell, Pa.) hit a solo home run on Saturday afternoon, but the No. 12/20 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team lost twice at Nova Southeastern in a non-conference doubleheader. The Ravens lost the first game 6-1 and the second game 5-3. Senior third baseman Rhys Roberts hit a home run in each game for Nova Southeastern.

With the losses, Franklin Pierce falls to 10-6 (0-0 Northeast-10), while Nova Southeastern improves to 14-14 (1-5 Sunshine State) with the sweep.

In the first game, Franklin Pierce opened up the scoring with a run in the top of the second inning. Sophomore designated hitter Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass.) led off with a double to left field, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI grounder to second by senior right fielder Phil Hendricks (Pittsfield, Maine).

Nova Southeastern evened things up with a run of their own in the home half of the second. Senior second baseman Eric McCans led off with a single through the right side and moved around to third on a single through the left side by junior first baseman Dusty Maggs. McCans would score three batters later on an RBI infield single on the left side by senior catcher Matt Fisher.

The Sharks then took a 3-1 lead with two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore designated hitter Jonathon Escarza led off with a double into left field and immediately took third on a passed ball prior to junior center fielder Matt Seese working a walk. Two batters later, junior shortstop Luis Penate lifted a sacrifice fly to right to give Nova Southeastern the lead. After Seese stole second, sophomore left fielder Nikko Echevarria brought him home with an RBI single to center field.

Nova Southeastern picked up three more in the bottom of the fifth to create the 6-1 final. Senior third baseman Rhys Roberts led off the inning with a solo home run to make it 4-1. McCans was next, reached on an error and was immediately brought all the way around as Maggs mashed a two-run home run.

Freshman right-hander Joe Flynn (Plymouth, Mass.) took the ball and took the loss (1-1) for Franklin Pierce in the first game. Over four innings, he was touched up for six runs (five earned) on nine hits, walked two and struck out one.

Junior right-hander Nick Avila threw a seven-inning complete game to pick up the win (3-2) on the hill for Nova Southeastern. He allowed one run on four hits, hit a batter and struck out eight.

In the second game, Franklin Pierce opened the scoring with a run in the top of the second inning, when Kauffman clubbed a solo home run. It was his second round-tripper of Franklin Pierce's southern trip.

The Ravens would briefly stretch the lead to 2-0 with another run in the top of the third. With one out, junior left fielder Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass.) knocked a double into the gap in right-center. Graduate student first baseman Mike Augustine (Kingston, N.Y.) would make it back-to-back doubles, as he put a ball of his own in the right-center gap to drive home Ingui.

Nova Southeastern would immediately respond with three runs of its own in the home half of the third to take a 3-2 lead. Junior catcher Michael Hartley led off with a double to center field and moved to third as Penate punched a single through the left side to put runners on the corners. Echevarria followed with a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Hartley to cut the lead to 2-1. Two batters later, Roberts clubbed a two-run home run, his second long ball of the game, to give the Sharks the lead and chase the Franklin Pierce starter, senior right-hander Heath Wasylow (Rehoboth, Mass.) from the game.

The Sharks would run the lead to 5-2, as they added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Maggs led off the inning with a solo home run and junior designated hitter Haven FitzSimmonds followed with a walk and was replaced by freshman pinch runner Kevin Reynolds. Reynolds was then erased at second as Seese reached on a failed sacrifice bunt. Seese would then score all the way from first on a pinch-hit RBI double by Fisher.

Franklin Pierce cut the lead to 5-3 with a run in the top of the fifth. Dowd led off, reached on an error, moved to second when Ingui worked a walk and went to third as a pinch-hit single through the left side by sophomore Isaac Wenrich (Westlawn, Pa.) loaded the bases. Sophomore catcher Tim Quinn (Paxton, Mass.) followed with an RBI single to center to score Dowd, but the Ravens would miss a chance to do further damage as sophomore third baseman Ben Benigno (Trumbull, Conn.) struck out and freshman shortstop Dan Kemp (Sturbridge, Mass.) popped up to leave the bases loaded.

Franklin Pierce would manage one baserunner in each the sixth and seventh innings, but would not score again as Nova Southeastern came away with a 5-3 victory and the doubleheader sweep.

Wasylow started on the rubber for Franklin Pierce in the second game and took the loss (0-2). Over 2.2 innings, he allowed three runs on five hits, threw a wild pitch and struck out three.

Sophomore Chris Hamper took to the mound for Nova Southeastern in the second game and picked up the win (2-2). In four innings of work, he surrendered two runs on four hits, walked two, hit a batter and struck out seven. He struck out the side around Kauffman's home run in the second. Junior Sean Albury threw a scoreless ninth, allowed one hit and struck out one to notch his fifth save of the season.

The Ravens return to the field on Tuesday, March 23, when they travel to Saint Anselm to open up their Northeast-10 Conference season. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Sullivan Park in Manchester, N.H.