Lower-seeds improve to 7-0 in NE-10 Tournament play as Owls to face No. 6 UMass Lowell for NE-10 Championship on Sunday

LOWELL, Mass. (May 8, 2004) - Fifth-seeded Southern Connecticut State University posted a 2-1 victory over second-seeded Franklin Pierce to advance to Sunday's championship game of the 2004 Northeast-10 Conference baseball championships at LeLacheur Park tonight.

Southern Connecticut (30-21) will face sixth-seeded UMass Lowell (21-21) in tomorrow's title game at noon. The Owls must defeat the River Hawks twice to keep UMass Lowell from claiming its fourth-straight NE-10 Tournament title. Franklin Pierce (29-22) now awaits word of a possible second-straight NCAA Division II Tournament berth to be announced on Monday morning.            

Southern Connecticut kept the lower seeded teams run perfect in this year's NE-10 Tournament as the lower seeds have won all seven Conference tournament games so far this week. The Owls erased a 1-0 lead after five innings with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth and made it hold up to advance to their second NE-10 title game.

Sophomore left-hander Jeff Farrell (Naugatuck, Conn./Naugatuck) posted his fourth win of the season (4-2) on the mound for Southern Connecticut as he allowed just an earned run on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 6.2 innings of work. Classmates Steve Gatewood (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) and Matt Hennessey (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall) allowed just a hit and a walk over the final 2.1 innings to close out the victory. Hennessey picked up his second save of the season with a hitless inning of work, fanning one.

Senior Orlando Lugo (Providence, R.I./St. Raphael Academy) hit 1-for-3 for the Owls with a stolen base. Junior Tyler Call (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) was 2-4 with a stolen base, while freshman Paul Izzo (Cohoes, N.Y./Cohoes) was 1-4 with an RBI.

Franklin Pierce squandered a strong start from freshman Daniel Fournier (Worcester, Mass./Holy Name), who went the distance and yielded two earned runs on five hits with three walks and a season-high matching 11 strikeouts. Fournier (6-3) struggled in the decisive sixth inning, allowing three of the five hits against him with two walks in the frame, but gave his teammates a chance to rebound by retiring the last 11 batters he faced.            

Freshman Vinny Pennell (Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) was 1-2 with an RBI and stolen base. His steal in the fifth was his 16^th of the season to set a new freshman record at the College. Senior Dante Blancarte (South Berwick, Maine/Amesbury (Mass.)) was 2-4, while sophomore Mike Feetham (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) was 1-3 and scored the Ravens lone run.

The Ravens struck first in the fifth as Feetham was hit by a Farrell pitch to lead off the frame. Sophomore Randy Fenton (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) sacrificed Feetham over to second after a strikeout and Pennell followed with an RBI single to left center with two away.

The Owls answered right back in the top of the sixth. Junior Mel Davis (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) led off the inning with a single to center. Fournier nearly worked out of the jam by retiring the next two batters, but he walked sophomore Joe Pagan (Bridgeport, Conn./Bridgeport Central) and Izzo followed with an RBI single through the right side to plate Davis with the tying run. Call reached on an infield single to load the bases, then Lugo drew a walk to score Pagan with the go-ahead run.

Franklin Pierce had plenty of chances to tie the game or regain the lead down the stretch. The Ravens loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but left them stranded, had a runner on third with two out in the seventh and failed to score with runners on first and second with one out in the eighth.

 Boxscore & Play-by-Play

Earlier in the day, Franklin Pierce avoided elimination with a 2-0 victory over top-seeded and No. 17-ranked Saint Anselm College.

Junior right-hander Bryan Borowski (Clarksburg, Mass./Drury) fired a two-hit shutout to lead the Ravens to victory as he struck out five and walked one to pick up his fourth victory of the season (4-5). Borowski allowed just two baserunners to reach second base on the day and retired the last 15 batters he faced after yielding a leadoff single in the fifth. He held the top third of the Saint Anselm lineup to a combined 0-for-12, setting the trio down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

Freshman Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) paced the Franklin Pierce offense as he hit 2-for-4 with a triple, run scored and RBI. Junior Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) finished 3-5 with a stolen base, while sophomore Mike Chambers (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) hit 1-4 with a run scored.            

Freshman Ryan Williams (Lynnfield, Mass./St. John's Prep) pitched well in defeat, allowing two earned runs on ten hits with three strikeouts and a walk over nine innings.

Junior Josh Skowyra (Brimfield, Mass./Tantasqua) and sophomore John Welch (Medford, Mass./Malden Catholic) both hit 1-3 for the Hawks.

The Ravens scored both of its runs in the fourth inning. Chambers led off the frame with a single to left before Olson followed with a triple to right-center. Olson scored two batters later on a ground out to second base by freshman Kim Hart (Gorham, Maine/Gorham).

Franklin Pierce had chances to build on its lead, but left eight runners on base, including one in each of the first five innings and two in the ninth.

Saint Anselm (30-20) also awaits word on an NCAA Tournament berth after falling out of the NE-10 Tournament with two-straight losses.

Boxscore & Play-by-Play