Bryant turns Ravens batters in knots in out-dueling Shank

RINDGE, N.H. (May 8, 2002) - Freshman right-hander Tim Bryant kept the Franklin Pierce offense off-balance all afternoon in leading Bentley College to a 5-2 upset victory in first round action of the Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Tournament at Crystal Field this afternoon.

Bentley (22-22, 16-16 NE-10), the third seed in the NE-10's Pepin Division, advances to the double-elimination round and will face Pepin Division Champion UMass Lowell (26-15, 21-11 NE-10) on Friday night at LaLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass., at 7 p.m. In the Conference's other first round match-up, Stonehill College (25-20-1, 19-13 NE-10) defeated College of Saint Rose (32-21, 21-11 NE-10), 4-3, to advance to the weekend tourney and will face the Markey Division's top-seed, Bryant College (33-18, 23-9 NE-10) on Friday at LaLacheur Park at 4 p.m.

Franklin Pierce, the No. 2 seed in the Markey Division, suffers its fourth-straight postseason loss as many games dating back to the 2000 season. The Ravens fell in last year's NE-10 first round encounter with Southern Connecticut State University, 6-4.

This afternoon, Bryant out-dueled Franklin Pierce junior right-hander Chris Shank (Westminster, Mass./Oakmont Regional) and kept the Ravens bats quiet for most of the afternoon. He held the Ravens No. 2-5 batters to a combined one-for-16 as Franklin Pierce left eight runners on base for the game. Bryant yielded just two earned runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and a walk in the complete game effort.

Shank suffered his first loss of the season to a New England team as he fell to 8-2 on the season. He allowed four earned runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and five walks in 8.1 innings of work.

The two teams traded solo homers in the second inning to start the scoring. Bentley senior Bernie Driscoll belted a leadoff homer to left center, then Franklin Pierce freshman Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) smacked a two-out blast in the bottom of the frame.

The game remained knotted at 1-1 until the sixth, when Falcons senior Steve Vickers lined a leadoff homer down the rightfield line.

Shank worked out of a huge jam in the eighth, as Bentley placed runners on second and third with no outs after a Vickers double. However, Cavers made a sliding catch in shallow rightfield and Shank fanned a batter then got the final out on a foul out to first base.

Bentley got the insurance it was looking for in the ninth inning with two walks and one out. Franklin Pierce junior Jon White (Medford, Mass./Arlington Catholic) came on in relief of Shank and got one quick out at second on a fielder's choice advancing a runner to third. After senior John DiGennaro scored on a wild pitch and classmate Bernie Driscoll walked, Vickers belted a two-run double down the leftfield line to put the Falcons up 5-1.

Franklin Pierce got its first two batters on base in the bottom of the eighth as Cavers was hit by a pitch and freshman Bear Dunn (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) followed with a double to right center. After a ground out, senior Eric Burney (Rockville, Conn./Rockville) drove in Cavers with a sacrifice fly, but that was all the Ravens would get as Bryant got senior Scott Loiseau (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter Marian) to foul out to first base to end the game.

Vickers finished four-for-five with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs, while junior Jamie Gath finished 2-4 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base.

Dunn was a perfect 3-3 at the plate for Franklin Pierce with a double and a walk, while Cavers finished 2-3 with a homer, two runs scored and an RBI, extending his team-best hitting streak to 14 games. Loiseau hit 2-5 with a double.

Franklin Pierce (29-17, 22-10 NE-10), ranked third in this week's NCAA Division II Northeast Regional poll, still has an outside shot at its first ever NCAA Tournament berth with Saint Rose's (ranked sixth) loss today but must wait out the selection process early next week. The Ravens set school records for overall and Conference victories this season with 29 and 22, respectively.

Batteries:
BEN: Tim Bryant and Kevin Lyons
FP: Chris Shank, Jon White (9th) and Al Medeiros

WP: Bryant (4-2)
LP: Shank (8-2)
HR: Driscoll (10); Vickers (10); Cavers (7).