Rivers and Adams lead third-seeded Ravens into double-elimination weekend round

RINDGE, N.H. (May 7, 2008) – Third-seeded Franklin Pierce University, ranked 20th in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II poll and 29th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, cruised to a 10-2 victory over sixth-seeded Bentley College in first round action of the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championship, presented by Diamond Sports and UBS/The Ricciardi Group, at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.

Franklin Pierce (36-12, 20-10 NE-10) advances to this weekend’s double-elimination round, to be held at Dr. Pappas Field Friday through Sunday. The Ravens will face second-seeded Southern Connecticut State University (33-15, 23-6 NE-10) in Friday’s first game at 4 p.m. The Owls received a first round bye in the tournament, along with regular season champion Bryant University (37-15, 25-5 NE-10), who will face fifth-seeded Pace University (31-21, 18-12 NE-10) in Friday’s second game at Dr. Pappas Field at 7 p.m. Pace advanced today with a 7-1 win at fourth-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Sophomore rightfielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) led Franklin Pierce’s 10-run, 15-hit attack, by going 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBI. Junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) was 2-for-3 with a double, stolen base, RBI and three runs scored, while classmate Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) hit 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI. Six Ravens in all had two hits in the contest, with junior Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./St. Mary’s) collecting two doubles to go with an RBI.

Junior All-Region righthander Mike Adams (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) improved to 9-1 on the season, allowing just an earned run and an infield single to go with a career-best 12 strikeouts, while working around five walks and two hit batters over seven innings.

Sophomore Charlie Pagliarulo (Medford, Mass./Medford) hit 1-for-4 with an RBI for Bentley. Junior Kevin Vona (Belmont, Mass./Belmont) was 1-for-3, while freshman James Roche (Arlington, Mass./Arlington) chipped in a double and run scored.

Junior righthander Jarrod Marchesi (Peabody, Mass./Everett) took the loss on the mound for the Falcons (8-3), allowing four earned runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks over three innings.

Franklin Pierce got on the board in the first as senior Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) led off with a double and later scored when Rivers reached on an error. The Ravens added three in the third off Marchesi, sparked by a long two-run homer to right center by Rivers. Grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) added a one-out RBI single in the frame.

Franklin Pierce broke the game open with three more in the fourth, two in the fifth and a single run in the sixth to stake out a 10-0 lead. Senior Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) had an RBI single down the leftfield line, followed by a two-run triple down the line in right by Hicks in the fourth. Savastano notched an RBI double with two out in the fifth and scored on a single to center by Rivers. Carr posted an RBI double for the Ravens in the sixth.

Bentley’s lone hit off Adams came on an infield roller to third by Vona in the fourth as the Ravens righthander had faced just one over the minimum prior to that. Adams responded by striking out the next three Falcon batters, sparking a string of five strikeouts over six batters for the ace.

Bentley got on the board without the benefit of a hit off Adams in the seventh, collecting three walks and a hit batter in the frame. The Falcons touched up junior reliever Tom Cote (Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock Regional) for a run in the eighth as Roche doubled to right center with one out and scored on a single to center by Pagliarulo.