Otisfield, Maine, native cops third freshman honor of the season

RINDGE, N.H. (May 21, 2002) - Franklin Pierce University freshman catcher Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) was named the Northeast-10 Conference Freshman of the Week by the Conference office this afternoon.

Cavers, who earns his third NE-10 Freshman of the Week honor of the season, helped guide Franklin Pierce to its first ever ECAC Division II Baseball Championship last week. He batted .500 (4-8) with two runs scored, a double, a stolen base and an RBI as Franklin Pierce
swept Westminster (Pa.) College in two games in the best-of-three series. The Ravens posted a 7-2 decision in game one before rallying for a 6-5 victory in the nightcap on Friday for the series sweep. He also gunned down three-of-five potential base stealers on the afternoon.

Cavers was the Ravens catalyst in game one, hitting three-for-four with a double, a run scored and an RBI. In the nightcap, he registered a base hit and stole home on a double-steal in the second inning, which knotted the game at 1-1.

Cavers, who will play this summer for the Manchester (Conn.) Silkworms of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), finished his freshman season at Franklin Pierce with a .335 batting average (55-164), which ranked third on the team, 38 runs scored, ten doubles, seven homeruns and 32 RBIs. He also registered a .537 slugging percentage and .396 on-base percentage this spring.

Cavers led the team with 15 stolen bases (on 18 attempts), which tied the school record for thefts set in 1990 by Scott Lilly and is tops among freshmen in program history. Cavers finished the season with a team season-high 16-game hitting streak to go along with 16 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI outings this spring.

Cavers also earned NE-10 Freshman of the Week honors on April 28 as well as Player and Freshman of the Week accolades on March 31 following a week in which he batted .636 (7-11) with five runs scored, four RBIs, four steals, a double, a triple and a homer in three games.

Franklin Pierce finished the 2002 season with a 31-17 record overall, shattering the program record for wins for the fourth-straight season and marking the first time in program history the team has reached the 30-win plateau, and a 22-10 Conference mark, breaking the record for Conference wins.