Anderson’s ninth inning home run the difference as third-seeded Ravens hold off top-seeded Bulldogs to reach Sunday’s championship round

RINDGE, N.H. (May 10, 2008) – Third-seeded Franklin Pierce University, ranked 20th in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and pingbaseball.com Division II polls and 29th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, held off top-seeded Bryant University, ranked 12th in the NCBWA poll and 28th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, in game six of the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championships, presented by Diamond Sports and UBS/The Ricciardi Group, at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.

Franklin Pierce (38-12, 20-10 NE-10) advances to tomorrow’s championship round for the fourth time in program history and will seek its third Northeast-10 tournament championship (second-straight) when it faces second-seeded Southern Connecticut State University (36-16, 24-6 NE-10) at 11 a.m. The Owls rebounded from yesterday’s 5-2 setback to the Ravens in the opening game of the championship and battled through the loser’s bracket with wins over fifth-seeded Pace University (6-1) in today’s first game before eliminating Bryant (39-19), 1-0, tonight. Southern Connecticut will need to defeat Franklin Pierce twice tomorrow to claim its first NE-10 tournament title, after finishing as runners-up on three previous occasions.

Sophomore rightfielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) continues to swing a hot bat for Franklin Pierce in the postseason, finishing 3-for-5 at the plate today with a double, home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Rivers is now hitting 7-for-11 (.636) with four home runs and ten RBI through the Ravens first three NE-10 Tournament games.

Senior Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) was 1-for-3 with a solo home run in the ninth, that proved to be the game-winning run, and two runs scored for the Ravens. Grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, RBI and run scored, while freshman Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) hit 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) batted 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Junior lefthander Alex Szymanski (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) earned the win in relief for Franklin Pierce (1-0), allowing two unearned runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts over three innings. Senior Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./Milford) picked up his second save in as many days (8th of the season) despite yielding an earned run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts over the final 1.2 innings.

Sophomore Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, R.I./Portsmouth) led Bryant, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Junior Dave Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) hit 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, while sophomore Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) was 2-for-4 with a stolen base and two RBI. Junior Pat O’Connor (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester) finished 1-for-3 with a double, stolen base and two RBI.

Freshman righthander David O’Brien (Whitman, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) suffered his first loss of the season (6-1) on the mound for Bryant, surrendering five runs, four earned, on four hits with a strikeout and three walks over two-plus innings of work.

Bryant opened the scoring with a three-run first after O’Brien breezed through a 1-2-3 frame in the Franklin Pierce half of the inning. Vigurs collected an RBI single up the middle with one out. O’Connor scored when junior Pat McKenna (Orange, Conn./Amity) beat out a potential inning-ending double-play at first, with sophomore Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) also hustling in from second base to score on the play.

Franklin Pierce went to work, scoring once in the second when junior Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./St. Mary’s) followed up a one-out walk by Anderson with an RBI triple. The Ravens took the lead with a four-run third to chase O’Brien. Christman led off the inning with a single up the middle and scored when Ingui reached on an error during a sacrifice bunt attempt. Rivers delivered an RBI single to right and later scored the fourth run of the frame on a wild pitch. Ingui also scored on a wild pitch in the frame.

Franklin Pierce added three in the fourth, Rivers three-run homer, and a single run in the fifth to stake out a 9-3 lead. Junior Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) laced a one-out triple in the fifth and scored on Christman’s two-out single to left.

Bryant started its comeback effort with three runs in the home half of the fifth to chase Franklin Pierce sophomore starter Kyle Vazquez (Berlin, N.H./Berlin). O’Connor had a two-run double down the rightfield line with one out, while Vigurs added an RBI single through the right side. Sophomore Taylor Ferguson (Charlton, Mass./St. John’s) had an RBI single for the Bulldogs in the seventh, before Campbell’s sacrifice fly in the eighth brought Bryant within a run again (9-8) in the eighth.

Anderson led off the ninth with his fourth homer of the season to center with what would prove to be the deciding run for Franklin Pierce. Bryant loaded the bases on Bishop with one out in the bottom of the ninth on a pair of singles and a walk, but managed just an RBI ground out by Muscatello as Bishop recovered to strike out senior Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) to end the contest.