Baseball Splits Doubleheader Against Merrimack
![Baseball Splits Doubleheader Against Merrimack](/images/bb/2007-08/action/prestoaction/Team.jpg?max_width=600)
Vazquez strikes out 10 in victory
Game One Box
Score
Game Two Box
Score
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RINDGE, N.H. (April 11, 2009) –
Junior right-hander Kyle Vazquez
(Berlin, Conn./Berlin) scattered four hits and struck out 10
over eight shutout innings on Saturday afternoon to lead the
Franklin Pierce University baseball team to a 5-0 win over
Merrimack in the first game of a Northeast-10 Conference
doubleheader at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. Junior
right-hander Ryan McNeil (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield) tossed a
complete-game six-hitter and allowed just two runs to lead
Merrimack to a 6-2 win in the second game.
Franklin Pierce opened the scoring in a hurry with a run in the
bottom of the first inning. Sophomore designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett
Regional) jumped on the first pitch thrown by Merrimack
freshman right-hander James Haughney (Orlando, Fla./Bishop Moore)
and hit a solo home run, his fourth of the season, to straightaway
left field.
The Ravens pushed the lead to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the
bottom of the fourth inning. Freshman catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass./Cardinal
Spellman) led off with a single up the middle, moved to
second on a sacrifice bunt and scored when senior left fielder
Ted Lerud (Hampden,
Mass./Minnechaug Regional) pulled a double which rattled up
against the fence in left field. Lerud then stole third and scored
when fifth-year center fielder Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack
HS) went the other way and poked an RBI single into shallow
right field over the drawn-in infield.
Franklin Pierce added another run to make it 4-0 in the bottom of
the sixth inning. Junior right fielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol
Eastern) led off and poked a double down the right-field
line. He moved to third on a bunt single by Lerud and scored on a
sacrifice fly to center by Hicks.
The Ravens extended the lead to 5-0 with two outs in the bottom of
the seventh inning when Ingui launched his second solo home run of
the game, this one to the gap in left-center field.
Vazquez started on the mound, tossed eight shutout innings and
picked up the win (6-0) for Franklin Pierce in the first game. He
surrendered just four hits, walked one, threw a wild pitch and
struck out 10, one off his career high.
Haughney threw a complete game and took the loss (0-4) for
Merrimack. Over eight innings, he gave up five runs on nine hits,
walked one and struck out seven.
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Franklin Pierce played the second
game as the visiting team and opened the scoring with a run in the
top of the fourth inning when Lerud led off the frame with a solo
home run, his fourth of the season, to straightaway left field.
Merrimack would then take a 5-1 lead with five runs in the bottom
of the fifth inning. With one out, freshman shortstop Tim Curran
(South Weymouth, Mass./Northfield Mt. Hermon) was hit by a pitch
and subsequently erased at second base as junior left fielder
Andrew Johnson (Warwick, R.I./Dean CC) bounced into a
fielder’s choice. Johnson took second on a wild pitch, stole
third as senior catcher Bob McCarthy (Chelmsford, Mass./Burlington)
walked and scored on a wild pitch that moved McCarthy to second.
Freshman right fielder Steve Buitkus (Reading, Mass./Reading) was
then hit by a pitch and freshman designated hitter Ray Walker
(Lowell, Mass./Lowell) worked a walk to load the bases. Senior
center fielder Jeff Bercume (Leicester, Mass./St. John’s
Shrewsbury) followed and pulled a bases-clearing, three-run triple
deep into the gap in right-center field to make it 4-1. Sophomore
third baseman Mike Dooling (Milford, Conn./Joseph Foran) then
capped the scoring in the inning with an infield single to third
base which drove home Bercume.
Franklin Pierce narrowed the deficit to 5-2 with a run in the top
of the sixth inning. With one out, freshman third baseman Ben Benigno (Trumbull,
Conn./Trumbull) worked a walk but was erased at second base
as Hicks reached on a fielder’s choice. Hicks came all the
way around from first to score when senior first baseman Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./Lake City
CC) belted an RBI double into the left-center field gap.
Merrimack would answer and get the run back in the bottom half of
the sixth to extend the lead to 6-2. Junior first baseman Matt
Hogan (Andover, Mass./Northern Essex CC) led off with an infield
single in the hole at shortstop, moved to second on a sacrifice and
scored when McCarthy looped a single into right-center.
Fifth-year left-hander Steve
Cadoret (Sterling, Mass./Boston College) started on the
hill, threw 4.2 innings and took the loss (0-2) for Franklin Pierce
in the second game. He was touched up for five runs on two hits,
walked four, hit a pair of batters, threw two wild pitches and
struck out four.
McNeil went the distance to pick up the win (3-1) for Merrimack.
Over nine innings, he gave up two runs on six hits, walked three
and struck out three.
The Ravens (18-13, 9-4 Northeast-10) return to the field on
Monday, April 13, when they make the return trip to Merrimack
(12-15, 3-10 Northeast-10) for a Northeast-10 Conference contest.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Warrior Baseball Diamond
in North Andover, Mass.