2007 NE-10 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS #9/14 Franklin Pierce Advances to Championship Round
Top-seeded Ravens fall to #3 Bryant 7-3 in winner's bracket semifinal Ravens remain alive with 5-1 victory over fourth-seeded Pace in evening elimination game
LOWELL, Mass. (May 12, 2007) - Top-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked ninth in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II poll and 14th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, staved off elimination to advance to the championship round of the 2007 Northeast-10 Conference baseball championships, hosted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell, at LeLacheur Park tonight. The Ravens fell 7-3 to third-seeded Bryant University in game six of the tournament, before posting a 5-1 victory over fourth-seeded Pace University in game seven to advance to the championship round for the third time in program history.
Franklin Pierce (43-9, 26-4 NE-10) will need to defeat Bryant (32-20, 21-9 NE-10) twice to claim its second NE-10 Tournament title in three years, while the Bulldogs will looking to claim their first tournament title since 1999 tomorrow at noon. Pace (30-26, 18-12 NE-10) defeated second-seeded and host UMass Lowell, 4-0, in this morning's elimination round contest to advance to tonight's game with the Ravens.
Franklin Pierce 5, Pace 1
Franklin Pierce remained alive behind the arm of senior preseason All-American Arric Mather (Danville, N.H./Winnacunnet), who earned his team-leading sixth win of the season on the mound in the nightcap. Mather (6-1) allowed just one earned run on three hits with six strikeouts and three walks in the complete game effort for the Ravens.
Junior Keith Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) led the offense as he hit 2-for-3 with a run scored and stolen base. Twin brother Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) was 1-5 with a home run and two RBI, while sophomore Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) finished 2-4 with a stolen base. Senior Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) hit 2-4 with a run scored.
Junior Neil Ross (Cortland Manor, N.Y./Dominican) had two of Pace's three hits on the night, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base, while junior Matt Arburr (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) finished 1-4 with a triple and RBI.
Post grad Justin Kanellis (Lansing, N.Y./Lansing Central) took the loss (2-4) on the mound for the Setters, yielding five runs, three earned, on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks over four innings.
For the first time in the championship, Franklin Pierce struck first scoring three times in the second inning, aided by a pair of Pace errors. Christman singled to center and later scored on a sacrifice fly by senior Cory Shepherd (Worcester, Mass./Burncoat). The Ravens added two in the fifth as Keith Renaud led off with a single through the left side, before Kevin Renaud chased Kanellis with a two-run blast to left.
Pace broke up Mather's shutout bid with an unearned run on the ninth. Sophomore Andre Liscinsky (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning and later scored with Arburr's one out triple to center.
Bryant 7, Franklin Pierce 3
Franklin Pierce left 14 runners on base in falling to Bryant, 7-3, in Saturday's winner's bracket semifinal. Both teams collected ten hits on the afternoon and while the Bulldogs worked around four errors, one Raven error and a passed ball resulted in four unearned runs for the winners.
Freshman Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) led Bryant as he hit 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and two RBI, while junior Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) was 2-4 with two stolen bases, a run scored and RBI. Junior Mike Dondero (Medfield, Mass./Xaverian) batted 1-3 with a double, run scored and RBI. Freshman Taylor Ferguson (Charlton, Mass./St. John's) finished 1-4 with a double, stolen base, RBI and two runs scored.
Sophomore Kevin Cobb (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxboro) improved to 6-1 on the year for the Bulldogs, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks over 5.1 innings. Freshman Eric Polvani (Wallingford, Conn./Sheehan) finished it off over the final 3.1 innings, surrendering an earned run on three hits with a strikeout and walk.
Junior Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) led Franklin Pierce, going 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Keith Renaud was 2-5 with a double and RBI. Freshman Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) batted 2-4 with his Conference-leading 20th double of the season.
Renaud suffered the loss on the mound (5-2), yielding four runs, three earned, on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks over 5.1 innings. Senior Andrew McNulty (Norwood, Mass./Norwood) returned to the mound for the first time since March 22 and completed 3.1 innings of scoreless relief, scattering two hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
Bryant scored first with a single run in the first as Alexander was hit by a pitch, stole second and later scored on a double down the left field line with one out by Campbell. Franklin Pierce evened the score in the second when Jake Christman scored on a wild pitch.
Bryant scored twice in the third as Ferguson drew a leadoff walk and scored on an RBI single by Campbell before freshman Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn./Wouth Windsor) notched an RBI single through the left side. The Bulldogs broke the game open with four in the sixth to open a 7-1 gap. Dondero and Ferguson each collected an RBI doubles, while Alexander had an RBI single and another run scored on a safety squeeze bunt by sophomore Dave Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass./UConn).
Franklin Pierce had opportunities to pull back into the game, coming up empty after loading the bases with none out in the third. The Ravens scored single runs in the sixth and ninth. Keith Renaud had an RBI single to left in the sixth and Scott Savastano led off the ninth with a triple and scored when Anderson reached on an error.