2006 NCAA II NORTHEAST REGIONAL Top-seeded Franklin Pierce Rallies Past #6 Dowling, 11-10
Pennell's walk off two-run homer
caps Ravens
comeback from 10-3 eighth-inning deficit
RINDGE, N.H. (May 18, 2006) - Top-seeded and No. 11-ranked Franklin Pierce overcame a 10-3 deficit entering the bottom of the ninth inning to post an 11-10 victory over sixth-seeded Dowling College in game one of the 2006 NCAA Division II Northeast Regional at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this morning.
Junior right fielder Vinny Pennell (Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) capped Franklin Pierce's comeback with a two-run walk off homerun down the right field line with two out. The Ravens scored six runs in the ninth after drawing within five with two in the eighth.
Franklin Pierce (41-10) awaits the loser of today's third game between third-seeded UMass Lowell (36-12) and fourth-seeded Southern Connecticut State University (33-17), for a game tomorrow at 1 p.m. Dowling (30-14) will face the loser of today's second game between second-seeded University of New Haven (35-10) and fifth-seeded Dominican College (40-16) tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m.
Junior Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) paced the Ravens 16-hit attack as he finished 4-for-5 with a double, home run, four runs scored and two RBI. Freshman Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) hit 3-5 with a double, homer, two runs scored and two RBI, while Pennell finished 2-4 with the homer and two RBI. Senior Elliot Shea (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) chipped in with a pair of doubles and two RBI.
Pennell's blast made a winner of senior reliever Tom Gilmore (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place), who allowed a hit with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings of work to earn his first win of the season (second career). Junior starter Shane Presutti (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) missed his second-straight opportunity to collect his program record matching tenth win of the season, yielding six runs, five earned, on eight hits with five strikeouts and five walks over 4.1 innings.
The loss squandered a tremendous afternoon by Dowling junior shortstop Wilberto Ortiz (Brooklyn, N.Y./La Salle Academy), who was 3-for-6 with two homers, a double, three runs scored and four RBI. Ortiz narrowly missed out on a third homer, pulling an potential three-run shot just foul down the leftfield line in the ninth before flying out to center.
Junior James Healey (Bohemia, N.Y./Suffolk CCC-East) hit 2-5 for the Golden Lions with a pair of RBI, while senior Bryan Bacarella (Hauppauge, N.Y./Suffolk CCC-East) was 2-2 with a double and two runs scored. Junior Ryan Grabowski (Central Islip, N.Y./Central Islip) finished 2-5 with a homer, RBI and two runs scored.
Freshman Ronan O'Brien (Bronx, N.Y./Northeastern State Univ.) suffered the loss (3-1) in relief, allowing three earned runs on three hits with a strikeout in two thirds of an inning. Dowling sophomore Brent Lotito (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) held the Franklin Pierce offense in check for seven innings before allowing eight runs, six earned, on 13 hits with five strikeouts and two walks in eight-plus innings of work. He yielded three runs, just one earned, on eight hits over the first seven.
Franklin Pierce held a 3-2 lead after three innings after a solo homer to dead center by senior Mike Chambers (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) before Olson doubled and later scored on an error.
Dowling regained the lead with four in the fifth, sparked by a leadoff homer from Grabowski. Healey added an RBI single and later scored on a single, in which a second run scored on an error. The Golden Lions added a run in the seventh thanks to a Franklin Pierce error, before Ortiz's second homer of the day in the eighth sparked a three run frame that gave Dowling the 10-3 edge heading to the home half.
Savastano's two-run homer in the eighth sparked Franklin Pierce's comeback, cutting its deficit to five runs (10-5) heading to the ninth. Senior pinch-hitter Mike Feetham (Quincy, Mass./North Quincy) and Shea each doubled around a Randy Fenton (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) single to lead off the ninth. Shea's double scored both runners and chase Lotito. O'Brien retired the first batter he faced, before Olson drew the Ravens within a run with a two-run homer to left. O'Brien struck out the next batter to bring Dowling within an out of victory, but Savastano singled up the middle to set up Pennell's game-winning blast.