Ravens score twice in the first inning of the restarted game to take the win

LOWELL, Mass. (April 27, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University, ranked eighth in this week’s pingbaseball.com and National Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Div. II polls and 13th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, scored twice in the top of the 14th inning to defeat Pace University, 4-2, in a Northeast-10 Conference baseball game on Sunday afternoon at LeLacheur Field. The game was originally started on April 16 in Pleasantville, N.Y., where the teams played to a 2-2 tie in 13 innings before the game was suspended due to darkness.

Franklin Pierce wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard in the first inning after the game restarted, scoring twice in the top of the 14th frame. Graduate student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) began the inning with a single and was moved to second by a sacrifice bunt from junior Billy DeMarino (Hudson, N.H./Hudson), and junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) followed with an RBI single to give the Ravens a 3-2 lead. Savastano came home later in the inning on an RBI single by sophomore Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) to provide an insurance run.

Senior All-Region reliever Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./Milford) returned to the mound and set down the Setters in the bottom of the 14th inning to save his own win (6-2). Bishop, who was on the mound in the 13th inning when the original game was suspended, threw a total of 7.1 innings against Pace, giving up only one unearned run on four hits while striking out a career-high nine batters.

Freshman righthander Chris Camastro (Lagrangeville, N.Y./Arlington), the sixth Pace pitcher of the game, came on to pitch the 14th inning and took the loss (1-1) after giving up two runs on four hits.

Pace had sent the game into extra innings with an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth inning off of Bishop. Junior Joe Cotone (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) reached and advanced to second base on an error to lead off the inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore pinch-hitter Vinny Dammann (Mullica Hill, N.J./Gloucester Catholic).

Franklin Pierce (33-12, 18-10 NE-10) completes the conference portion of its regular-season schedule on Tuesday with a doubleheader at the College of Saint Rose beginning at 3:30 p.m. before returning home for Senior Day prior to the team's game against C.W. Post on Friday at 2 p.m. Pace (28-17, 17-8 NE-10) returns to action on Wednesday with a non-conference game at the University of New Haven at 3:30 p.m.