#30 Franklin Pierce Blasts AIC, 15-0
Ravens clinch first round bye in next week's NE-10 Championships
RINDGE, N.H. (May 4, 2005) - Franklin Pierce, ranked No. 30 in Collegiate Baseball magazine's Division II poll, banged out a season-high 20 hits en route to posting a commanding 15-0 victory over American International College in Northeast-10 Conference baseball action at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.
The win clinches a first round bye in next week's Northeast-10 Championships in Lowell, Mass. The Ravens, who will be the No. 2 seed behind regular season champion Southern Connecticut State, will move directly into the double-elimination final four the weekend of May 13-15 at UMass Lowell's LeLachuer Park.
Four Franklin Pierce pitchers combined for four-hit shutout work today, led by sophomore starter Clay Jenkins (Easton, N.H./Profile) who scattered four hits and four walks with a strikeout in six scoreless innings of work to improve to 2-1 on the year.
Sophomore Neil Cacciola (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield), freshman Kyle Graham (Westboro, Mass./Westboro) and sophomore Matt Fisher (Athol, Mass./Athol) combined for three innings of perfect relief. Fisher fanned the side in order in the ninth.
Junior Randy Fenton (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) led a Ravens offensive attack which saw every batter on the day collect a hit as he was 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a stolen base, two RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) was also 3-5 with a steal, run scored and two RBI, while classmate Kim Hart (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) hit 3-4 with an RBI.
Junior Mike Chambers (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) finished 2-for-4 with a double, three runs scored and two RBI. The double was his Conference-leading 17th of the season matching former teammate Eric Cavers' single-season record at the College.
Seniors Eric Boissy (Enfield, Conn./Enfield) and Jon Ferry (Thorndike, Mass./Palmer) both finished 1-for-2 at the plate for American International.
Sophomore right-hander Terry Loh (Milford, Conn./Foran) suffered the loss (1-6) for the Yellow Jackets as he surrendered nine runs, seven earned, on ten hits over four innings.
Loh faced the minimum through the first two, allowing just a leadoff hit to Olson in the first, before Franklin Pierce scored six in the third. Chambers roped a two-run double, while Fenton scored on a double-steal with Olson, who registered an RBI single along with junior Shawn Hayes (Charlton, Mass./Holy Name), while junior Bryan Duplissie (East Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock Regional) drove in a run with a sac fly.
The Ravens added three more in the fourth, sparked by an RBI double from Fenton, then added a single run in the fifth and two in the sixth to open a 12-0 advantage.
Franklin Pierce (26-12, 20-9 NE-10) closes out its regular season tomorrow with a Conference match up with the College of Saint Rose at Dr. Pappas Field at 3:30 p.m. American International (7-26, 3-21 NE-10) hosts UMass Lowell tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.