Junior southpaw strikes out
nine
Box
Score
Brian Maloney threw a one-hit shutout and struck out nine against
Stonehill on Friday night.
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WEST HAVEN, Conn. (May 14,
2010) – Junior left-hander Brian Maloney
(Brockton, Mass.) threw a one-hit shutout and struck out
nine on Friday night to lead the No. 22/24 nationally ranked and
second-seeded Franklin Pierce University baseball team to a 6-0
victory over fourth-seeded Stonehill on the second day of the NCAA
Championship East Regional, hosted by Southern Connecticut State at
historic Yale Field. Senior right fielder Phil Hendricks
(Pittsfield, Maine) had a three-run double as part of a
five-run seventh inning for Franklin Pierce.
With the win, Franklin Pierce
improves to 38-14-1 and will play top-seeded Southern Connecticut
State in a winners' bracket game at 11 a.m. Saturday, with the
winner moving to Sunday's championship round. With the loss,
Stonehill falls to 30-17 and will face elimination at 3 p.m.
Saturday against fifth-seeded C.W. Post.
Maloney was the story on the mound
throughout the evening, as he allowed just five base runners on one
hit, three walks and one error while striking out nine to pick up
the win (4-4). The only offensive blemish against him was a single
back through the middle by senior right fielder Shane Franz in the
fifth. In that bottom of the fifth inning, the Skyhawks loaded the
bases with a walk, the single and an error, before Maloney worked
out of danger in what was a 1-0 game at the time. He struck out
both senior center fielder Rob Von Stein and junior shortstop
Brenden Shepard before getting senior second baseman Mitch Davis to
pop up to shortstop to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Franklin Pierce scored
the only run it would need in the top of the first inning.
Sophomore catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater,
Mass.) drove a one-out double into the gap in left-center
field, took third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single off
the foot of the pitcher by junior left fielder Mike Munoz
(Bronx, N.Y.).
The game would remain 1-0 until the
top of the seventh, when the Ravens plated five runs to break the
game open and create the 6-0 final. Early in the inning, sophomore
first baseman Isaac Wenrich (Westlawn, Pa.) led
off with a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch, while
Munoz drove in his second run of the day with a single to center.
Munoz's single also kept the bases loaded with one out and chased
Stonehill starting right-hander, junior Alex McCormick, from the
mound in favor of junior right-hander Dan Corrigan. Corrigan was
greeted by Hendricks, who clubbed a bases-clearing, three-run
double into the gap in left-center to extend the Franklin Pierce
lead to 6-0.
McCormick took the loss (6-4) on
the mound for Stonehill. Over 6.2 innings, he allowed six runs on
eight hits, walked three and struck out five.
