2004 ECAC DIVISION II BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP #1 Franklin Pierce Wins Second ECAC Title
Third-seeded Wilmington forces decisive game three with 10-7 victory;Ravens crush five homers in 14-2 rain-shortened win for title in game three;Cavers belts three homers on the day to earn MVP honors
RINDGE, N.H. (May 15, 2004) - Top-seeded Franklin Pierce claimed its second ECAC Division II Baseball Championship over the last three years with a commanding 14-2 victory in game three of its championship series with third-seeded Wilmington (Del.) College at Crystal Field this afternoon. Wilmington forced the third game with a 10-7 triumph in today's first game.
Franklin Pierce, which claimed its first ECAC Championship in 2002, rounds out its season with a 32-23 record as its victory today matches the program record for single-season wins set in 2003. Wilmington, which went 2-2 in this weekend's tournament, closes out its season with a 22-26 record.
Junior catcher Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) was named the ECAC Championship Most Valuable Player as he hit a combined .538 (7-13) in the three-game series with Wilmington, scoring seven runs and adding a double, triple, three home runs, nine RBI and two stolen bases. This afternoon, Cavers was 5-for-9 with three homers, five runs scored, nine RBI, a double and a triple.
Franklin Pierce belted five home runs in its decisive 14-2 victory in today's nightcap, which was called in the top of the eighth due to strong thunderstorms in the region. Cavers led the way with a pair of homers to go with a double, three runs scored, four RBI and a stolen base in a 3-for-4 game.
Freshman Kim Hart (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) was 2-4 with a homer, double, two runs scored and three RBI, while classmate Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) was 2-4 with a homer, three runs scored and an RBI. Sophomore Randy Fenton (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) hit 1-2 with a homer, steal, two runs scored and two RBI.
Junior right-hander Ryan Bowling (Cedar Springs, Mich./Cedar Springs) picked up his second win of the ECAC Championship, allowing two runs, just one earned, scattering ten hits and a walk with three strikeouts in 7.2 innings of work to close out the season with a 6-2 mark.
Senior Tom Eller (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun) was the lone Wilmington batter with multiple hits in the nightcap as he was 2-3 with a double. Classmate Tom Gallagher (Bear, Del./Glasgow) was 1-2 with an RBI, as was junior Rich Ware (Salem, N.J./Woodstown).
Senior left-hander Kevin Tully (Hockessin, Del./AI DuPont) suffered the loss, yielding three earned runs on four hits with a strikeout and no walks in 2.1 innings of work.
Franklin Pierce built up a 3-0 lead after three innings thanks to solo homers from Olson (2nd inning), Fenton (3rd) and Cavers (3rd). The Ravens broke the game open with six over the fourth and fifth. Senior Jason Bourque (Randolph, Mass./Kingswood (N.H.) Regional)started the four-run fourth with an RBI single, followed by a two-run single from classmate Dante Blancarte (South Berwick, Maine/Amesbury (Mass.)). In the fifth, Olson led off with a single, followed by a towering homer by Hart.
Wilmington scored a pair in the sixth on an RBI single from Ware and a sacrifice fly by Gallagher. The Ravens added five more in the seventh, capped by a three-run Cavers home run, his tenth of the season, to left-center.
GAME TWO: Boxscore & Play-by-Play
In today's first game (game two of the series), Wilmington jumped out to a 6-1 lead and withstood a pair of late Franklin Pierce rallies to post a 10-7 victory and force a deciding third game.
Senior Jim Murphy (Newark, Del./Christiana) led the Wildcats as he was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI. Sophomore Derek Pugh (New Castle, Del./Christiana) was 3-3 with two runs scored, while Gallagher hit 1-2 with three RBI. Junior Joe Class (Rising Sun, Md./Rising Sun) finished 2-4.
Senior Chris Cannatelli (Clayton, Del./Smyrna) picked up his fifth win of the season (5-6) on the mound for Wilmington. He allowed six earned runs on 12 hits with three strikeouts and a walk in eight-plus innings of work. Junior Scott Reynolds (Newark, Del./Christiana) struck out the only batter he faced to end the game and pick up his second save of the season.
Cavers led the Ravens by hitting 2-5 with a homer, triple, two runs scored and five RBI. Fenton was 3-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while freshman Vinny Pennell (Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) was 2-4 with two runs scored. Hart finished, 2-4, while sophomore Elliott Shea (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) was 2-5.
Freshman Daniel Fournier (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) suffered the loss as he allowed four earned runs on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work.
Wilmington jumped ahead with a pair in the second. Class led off with a single and scored on a fielder's choice, before sophomore Garry Wright (Newark, Del./St. Mark's) scored on a wild pitch. The Ravens answered with a single run in the home half with a Fenton RBI single to center to score Pennell, who singled with two out.
Gallagher's RBI single and a Wright sacrifice fly gave the Wildcats a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Murphy's RBI double in the sixth and Eller's run-scoring single in the seventh put Wilmington up 6-1.
The Ravens rallied with three in the home-half of the seventh on a three-run Cavers homer to cut the deficit to 6-4, but the Wildcats scored two in the eighth and ninth to extend their advantage to 10-4. Franklin Pierce had one more run left in the bottom of the ninth as Cavers roped a two-run triple and scored on a wild pitch. The Ravens brought the tying run to the plate, but Reynolds came on and struck out Pennell to end the game.