After dropping the first game, 4-0, Ravens come back in game two for 3-2 win

RINDGE, N.H. (April 26, 2008) – The Franklin Pierce University baseball team, ranked eighth in this week’s pingbaseball.com and NCBWA Div. II polls and 13th in the latest Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, came back to earn a doubleheader split with Assumption College in Northeast-10 Conference action today at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. Assumption took the first game, 4-0, before Franklin Pierce took a 3-2 decision in the nightcap.

Senior Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Becker College) and freshman Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) each had three hits in the doubleheader for Franklin Pierce. Ingui, who also drove in a run, recorded two hits in the second game after a 1-for-4 showing in game one, keeping his season-high hitting streak alive at 13 games.

Junior Mike Baillargeon (Worcester, Mass./Holy Name) was the catalyst atop the Assumption order, going 5-for-9 with an RBI and a run scored in the two games. Senior Scott Boyle (Cranston, R.I./Cranston West) had two hits in seven at-bats for the Greyhounds, including a key three-run home run in game one.


Assumption 4, Franklin Pierce 0 (Game One)

Assumption held the Ravens scoreless for only the second time this season in the day’s first game, as junior Jeff Barbale (Charlton, Mass./Saint Peter-Marian) tossed a shutout and the Greyhounds received two key hits on the way to a 4-0 win.

Barbale moved to 3-5 on the season by scattering seven hits without ceding a run in a complete-game effort, striking out one and walking one in his outing. Franklin Pierce sophomore Brian Maloney (Brockton, Mass./UMass Dartmouth) took his first loss of the season (5-1) by giving up four earned runs on seven hits while striking out eight in his first complete game of the season.

Assumption received the only runs it would need in the top of the fourth inning, thanks to a three-run homer by Boyle. Maloney sent down two of the first three batters of the frame before allowing a two-out single to bring up the ninth hitter Boyle, who pulled a ball just over the left-field fence to make the score 3-0.

Freshman Josh Dufresne (Auburn, Mass./Auburn) added to the lead in the top of the sixth inning with a solo home run, also coming with two outs.

The Ravens had a chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the fifth inning, as junior Randy Bernosky (Port Huron, Mich./Waubonsee CC) hit a one-out double and senior captain Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./University of Tampa) followed with a double to right field. Bernosky held up to make sure the ball dropped, however, and could only advance to third base. He was left stranded at third and the Ravens never got another runner past second in the final four innings of the contest.


Franklin Pierce 3, Assumption 2 (Game Two)

The Franklin Pierce offense remained dormant for most of game two, but the Ravens scored once in the seventh inning and twice in the eighth to scratch out a 3-2 win and earn the split.

Junior Tom Cote (Swanzey, N.H./UMass Amherst) pitched very well in earning his third victory of the season (3-2) for Franklin Pierce, going eight innings and giving up only two runs (one earned). The junior gave up eight hits but also tied a season-high with 10 strikeouts before Bishop came in and nailed down his fifth save in the ninth inning, striking out the side.

Ingui had two hits in three at-bats and drove in one, while graduate student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) went 1-for-3 with a key two-run single in the eighth inning. For Assumption, Baillargeon went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.

Franklin Pierce took its first lead of the game in the team’s final at-bat, scoring twice with two outs in the bottom of the eight inning. The Ravens loaded the bases with no outs on two errors and a hit batter, but sophomore Tim Dupuis (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield) almost got out of the jam with a force out at home plate and a strikeout. However, Christman fouled off a pair of two-strike pitches before lining a single up the middle to score two runs and put the Ravens in front.

The team put its first run of the game on the board in the previous inning, as Ingui was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in Bishop.

Assumption jumped out to a 1-0 after half an inning and held a 2-0 lead through six innings. Baillargeon led off the game by reaching on a throwing error by junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) and eventually scoring on an RBI double that just glanced off the glove of sophomore right fielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern). Rivers responded by making a nice running catch to save two runs in the top of the fourth inning, sprinting deep into the right-field corner to track down a drive by Boyle and keep it a one-run game.

Franklin Pierce (31-12-1, 16-10-1 NE-10) returns to action tomorrow, beginning with a matchup against Assumption (17-26, 9-19 NE-10) at 1 p.m. in Worcester, Mass. The Ravens then travel to Lowell, Mass., for the completion of their April 21 game against Pace University, which was suspended due to darkness after 13 innings.