2004 NORTHEAST-10 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS #6 UMass Lowell Upsets #2 Franklin Pierce, 4-1, in 11
River Hawks score three in the 11th to post second upset of tournament
LOWELL, Mass. (May 7, 2004) - Sixth-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning to claim its second upset victory of the week with a 4-1 decision over second-seeded Franklin Pierce, ranked fourth in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Northeast Region poll, in game three of the 2004 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championships at LeLacheur Park this afternoon.
UMass Lowell (20-21) advances to tomorrow's winners bracket where it will face the winner of tonight's game between top-seeded and No. 17-ranked Saint Anselm College (30-18) and fifth-seeded Southern Connecticut State University (28-20) at 3 p.m. Franklin Pierce (28-21) is relegated to the loser's bracket and will face the losing team from tonight's game tomorrow at 11 a.m. The Ravens will need to win twice on Saturday to advance to the NE-10 Championship game for the second straight year.
The victory was UMass Lowell's second-straight against a higher seed in this week's NE-10 Tournament. UML posted a 2-1 ten-inning victory at third-seeded and No. 25-ranked Bryant College in first round action on Wednesday to advance to this weekend's double-elimination round.
The River Hawks rode the left arm of junior Brad Laurin (Dracut, Mass./Central Catholic) to victory this afternoon. Laurin allowed just one unearned run, scattering nine hits with ten strikeouts and no walks in the 11-inning complete-game effort.
Sophomore Bob Theriault (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) paced the UML offense as he hit 3-for-5 with an RBI. Classmate Craig Carpenter (Nashua, N.H./Nashua) was 2-4 with a triple and run scored. Junior Nate Liebenow (Hampton, N.H./Winnacunnet) doubled and scored a run, while senior Erik Thomas (Billerica, Mass./Billerica) registered two RBI.
Franklin Pierce squandered a superb start from junior right-hander Keith Brouillard (Westport, Mass./Somerset), who didn't receive a decision as he allowed just an earned run on five hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in ten innings of work. Sophomore Tyler Cummings (South Paris, Maine/Oxford Hills) took the loss (3-3), as he was touched for three earned runs on three hits and a walk in an inning of relief.
Freshman Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) led the Ravens on offense as he finished 3-5. Sophomore Randy Fenton (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) hit 2-4 with a run scored, while senior Dante Blancarte (South Berwick, Maine/Amesbury (Mass.)) was 2-5.
In the decisive 11th, the first four UMass Lowell batters reached base to greet Cummings, who his first runs against a Conference opponent this season after 15.1 scoreless entering the day. After a leadoff walk, Liebenow doubled, followed by a two-run single by Thomas. Theriault drove in Thomas, who had advanced to second on an error, with a single to round out the scoring before Cummings retired the next three batters in a row to end the rally. Laurin came on for his 11th inning of work and after Blancarte reached on an error, fanned the next two batters to end the game.
Brouillard was breezing throughout most of the game as he was perfect through the first three and two thirds innings and retired 19 of the first 20 UMass Lowell batters on the day. However, it was the River Hawks who struck first as Carpenter led off the eighth with a triple off the rightfield wall to mark the first UML batter to reach scoring position on the day. Brouillard nearly escaped the threat unscathed, but freshman Eric Smolin (Westford, Mass./Westford Academy) beat out an infield single up the middle to allow Carpenter to score.
Franklin Pierce answered right back in the home half of the eighth as Fenton led off with a single to left. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, and then to third on a groundout before scoring on a UML error on what should have been an inning-ending groundout.