Leach fans five over 2.2 innings

MANCHESTER, N.H. (May 4, 2013) – Junior designated hitter Marty Dunlap (Dorchester, Mass.) dumped a 1-2 pitch into right-center field with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning to drive in two runs on Saturday night and turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead on the way to a 4-2 win for the Franklin Pierce University baseball team over No. 19 nationally ranked Southern New Hampshire in Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division play at Penmen Field. The win, combined with a 3-1 loss by Bentley on the road at Massachusetts Lowell, allowed Franklin Pierce to lay claim to the Northeast Division title, as well as the division's top seed in next week's Northeast-10 Championship.

With the win, Franklin Pierce wraps up the regular season at 32-15 (22-6 Northeast-10, 15-6 Northeast Division), while SNHU falls to 32-15 (16-12 Northeast-10, 13-8 Northeast Division). Franklin Pierce will host a first round game in the Northeast-10 Championship on Tuesday night, May 7 at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field in Rindge against either Merrimack or Lowell, which head into Sunday's regular-season finales competing for the final postseason spot in the division. Junior right-hander Trevor Graham (Sebastian, Fla.) is expected to take the ball on Tuesday for the Ravens, and first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Bentley will finish as the second seed, regardless of the outcome of its final regular season game, and will host third-seeded SNHU in Tuesday's first round. In the Southwest Division, top seed New Haven and second-seeded Pace will host fourth-seeded Adelphi and third-seeded Le Moyne, respectively, on Tuesday.

In a game where the winner would earn a home game in the first round of the Northeast-10 Championship, SNHU led 2-1 through seven innings. The Penmen turned to one of the finest relievers in the Northeast-10, junior right-hander Alex Powers, looking for a six-out save. Powers, who faced the top of the order, did himself no favors to start the top of the eighth, as he issued a lead-off walk to Franklin Pierce junior left fielder Calvin Graves (Boston, Mass.) on seven pitches to put the tying run on base. Senior shortstop Dan Kemp (Sturbridge, Mass.) was next and hit a ground ball back up the middle. SNHU senior shortstop Matt Boulter dove to get a glove on it and tried to flip from the ground to second to force out Graves. Sophomore second baseman Michael Mastroberti could not handle the toss however, allowing Kemp to reach with a single and putting runners at first and second for junior first baseman Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H.).

Powers threw a first-pitch fastball to Mathieu, and the latter hit it on a line to deep center, but junior center fielder Brendan O'Brien was able to track it down for the first out. Senior right fielder Nick LaCroix (Grafton, Mass.) was swinging on the first pitch as well, and chopped a ball towards shortstop which might have been a double-play ball, but Boulter appeared to rush knowing he would have to hurry to turn two. In the rush, he failed to field the ball cleanly, loading the bases with one out on the error. The Ravens couldn't convert with the tying run at third and less than two outs, as sophomore catcher Matt Walsh (Plymouth, Mass.) struck out on five pitches, which brought Dunlap to the plate in need of a base hit.

Dunlap was right on a first-pitch fastball and fouled it back to the screen. He then took ball one and a called strike to wind up in a 1-2 hole. The ensuing pitch caught enough of the plate for Dunlap to stick the bat out and hit a floater the other way. The runners were off on contact with two outs, and both Graves and Kemp came home to score when the ball dropped into no-man's land between the second baseman, the center fielder and the right fielder. Now holding a 3-2 lead, the Ravens tacked on an insurance run as sophomore center fielder John Razzino (Cranston, R.I.) followed and pulled the first pitch through the left side of the infield to score LaCroix.

Earlier in the night, the Ravens threatened in the first, leaving a runner at second, and in the third, stranding the bases loaded, but continued to come up empty against senior right-hander Jon Massad, who worked the first seven innings for SNHU. He allowed one run on five hits, walked three, struck out six and threw 99 pitches, but did not factor in the decision. Powers worked the eighth and the ninth, allowed three unearned runs on three hits, walked one and struck out two while blowing the save and taking the loss (3-1).

For the most part, Massad was matched step-for-step by sophomore left-hander Steve Hathaway (Acton, Mass.), who tossed the first five innings for Franklin Pierce. He allowed two runs on six hits, did not issue a walk and struck out two before being relieved after 61 pitches by junior right-hander Ryan Leach (Farmingdale, Maine). Leach was brilliant in keeping the Penmen stuck at two runs, striking out five over 2.2 scoreless, hitless innings to buy time for the Franklin Pierce offense to find its stride. Leach did walk one and hit two batters, but allowed no runners beyond second base, left with the lead and picked up the win (5-4) when all was said and done.

The only damage against Hathaway came in the bottom of the second, when SNHU used the longball to plate the game's first two runs. With two outs, senior catcher Andy Lalli lined a single to left field. Senior right fielder Jon Minucci was next and took a big swing at a 1-1 pitch, though it looked and sounded like he caught the ball down towards the handle instead of flush on the barrel. It mattered not, as he was able to muscle a high fly ball down the left-field line which landed just beyond the fence for his team-leading eighth home run of the season.

The Ravens finally converted a scoring opportunity against Massad with a run in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to 2-1. With one out, freshman second baseman Justin Brock (Latham, N.Y.) lined a single to center field. Brock had second base stolen, but was sent back to first as Graves was called out at the plate for interfering with the throw, a call which did not sit well with Head Coach Jayson King. With two outs and a runner on first now, Kemp knocked a single the other way to right, which allowed Brock to go first-to-third. In the first-and-third situation, Kemp took off for second with Mathieu at the plate, and Lalli elected to throw through to second. Brock broke for home on the throw and scored easily when the middle infield could not field the throw cleanly, resulting in the successful double steal.

Perhaps the best chance for SNHU to add on to the lead came in the bottom half of the fifth. With two outs and nobody on, graduate student left fielder Andrew Pezzuto hit a high fly ball to left which Graves got turned around on, and the ball fell in behind him for a double. Pezzuto then stole third, as what would have been a close play was never arbitrated by the umpire, as the ball got behind sophomore third baseman Matt O'Herron (Springfield, Mass.), who did get a glove on the throw to slow the ball down as it went by him. Pezzuto scrambled to his feet and broke for the plate, though Kemp had alertly been on the move to back up the throw to third. Kemp collected the ball and made an accurate throw back to Walsh at the plate, and Pezzuto was thrown out by 10 feet.

After Franklin Pierce took the lead in the top of the eighth, SNHU attempted a two-out rally to try to tie the game in the home half of the frame. With the top of the order up to start the inning, Leach struck out O'Brien and Pezzuto before hitting junior designated hitter Al Stanton with the first pitch of the at-bat. With back-to-back left-handed bats behind Stanton in the order, Leach was lifted after 41 pitches of relief work in favor of senior left-hander Vladimir Camacho (Jamaica Plain, Mass.). After getting ahead 0-2 on junior third baseman Riley Palmer, Camacho missed with four straight pitches to issue a walk and put runners at first and second. He then got Boulter to swing at the first pitch and pop up to Kemp at short to strand two runners.

Junior right-hander Joe Flynn (Plymouth, Mass.) took over for the bottom of the ninth after the Ravens went in order against Powers in the top half of the inning. He got a second-pitch groundout from Lalli and a three-pitch popup to Mathieu at first by Minucci before sophomore first baseman Alejandro Diaz fouled off a pair of 1-2 pitches en route to working an eight-pitch walk. Flynn stranded him at first and earned his fourth save of the season by getting Mastroberti to lift the second pitch of his at-bat to center field for the game's final out.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce baseball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).