Recap by Director of Athletic Communications Luke Tracy

RINDGE, N.H. (5/11/2024) – The Franklin Pierce baseball team rolled through the Northeast-10 double elimination tournament without a dent but ultimately fell on the final day with back-to-back losses to the University of New Haven which crowned the Chargers Conference Championshions for the first time since 2017.

Score:
Game 1: Franklin Pierce 3, New Haven 5
Game 2: Franklin Pierce 6, New Haven 7
Records: Franklin Pierce 28-18 (18-9, NE10), New Haven 29-23 (16-11, NE10)  
Location: Pappas Field, Franklin Pierce University, Rindge, New Hampshire
Date: Saturday, May 11, 2024

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Game 1:

• Saturday started off with stellar pitching from both bullpens which kept the game scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning. With two outs down, Nolan DeAndrade (Bridgewater, MA) went to the plate and hit a one run homer to give the Ravens their first lead of the game. A half-inning later a pair of hits, a walk and a fielder's choice with the bases juiced gave the Chargers their first two runs of the game to make it 2-1.
• In the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded, Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, CT) was walked which let Chris Roberti (New Fairfield, CT)  trot home for the game tying run. During the next at-bat, Eli Battipaglia (Cheshire, CT) reached on a fielder's choice and sent Julien Monks (Pace, France) across home plate to take the 3-2 lead.
• After a silent sixth inning from both teams, the Chargers got back on top in the seventh with an RBI double to take the one run lead. The Chargers' bullpen kept the Ravens at bay through the seventh and eighth inning and then secured some breathing room with a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth to make it 5-3.
• Closing out the game, the Chargers tallied three outs on three batters and forced a winner takes all game two.

Game 2:

• After four straight scoreless innings in game one, the Ravens came back to life in the top of the first with an RBI triple to center field from Eli Battipaglia scoring Joey Acker (Upton, MA) for the 1-0 lead. During the next at-bat, Nolan DeAndrade hit a sacrifice fly to left field letting Eli Battipaglia fly home and extend the lead to two.
• The bottom of the third inning shook up the game as the Chargers put together a fiery offensive at the plate. Following a double to center field from UNH's Nick Ungania, Matt McIntire went yard to take the 2-1 lead. The Ravens tried to slow things down with a pitcher change but that was followed up with back-to-back at-bats with hits to center field to reel in another two runs, 4-2. In short, the bottom third inning included three pitchers and an error for the Ravens compared to a home run, four runs and five hits for the Chargers.
• Kio Lugo (Boston, MA) brought the energy back to the Raven dugout in the top of the sixth inning after he hit a two-RBI homerun to tie it at four a-piece. Colin Hoffman (Longmeadow, MA) followed up two batters later with a sacrifice fly to center field scoring pinch-runner Jayden Villanueava (Lowell, MA) to grab the 5-4 lead.
• Wasting no time to get back on top, UNH's Shaun Callahan hit a two-RBI double to left field in the bottom of the sixth to recapture the 6-5 lead.  An RBI double from the Chargers an inning later extended their lead to 7-5 with just two innings left.
• In the top of the eight with their backs against the wall, Colin Hoffman grabbed his second hit and second RBI of the game off a shot through the left side scoring Lugo to make it 7-6.
• After a scoreless bottom of the eighth, the Ravens had one last shot to tie the game in the top of the ninth but the Chargers went 1-2-3 and secured the Northeast-10 Championship.

NEXT FOR THE RAVENS: With conference play in the books for the Ravens, their next step is the NCAA Division II Selection show set for Sunday, May 12 at 10:30 PM.

NE10 CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS:
Elite 24 Award:
Tyler Wells, New Haven

All-Championship Team
Michael Gatti, New Haven*
Shaun Callahan, New Haven
Matt McIntire, New Haven
Nolan DeAndrade, Franklin Pierce
Chaz Powell, Franklin Pierce
Jack Barry, Assumption
Anthony Labita, Pace

*Most Outstanding Player