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#14/21 Franklin Pierce Powers Past Bryant, 10-3

Top-seeded Ravens rebound from 12-10 loss in game ten to take nightcap and advance to NCAA II Baseball Championships for third-straight year
Renaud named Most Outstanding Player of the regional for 2nd-straight season

RINDGE, N.H. (May 19, 2008)
– Top-seeded and host Franklin Pierce University, ranked 14th in the most recent pingbaseball.com Division II poll and 21st in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, bounced back from a 12-10 loss in the first game of the championship round to claim a 10-3 victory in the winner-take-all nightcap and eliminate second-seeded Bryant University, capturing its third-straight NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Championship at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.

Franklin Pierce (43-13, 20-10 NE-10) advances to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championships in Sauget (SO-zhjay), Illinois, May 24-31, at GCS Ballpark and hosted by Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville, the University of Missouri – Saint Louis, the Village of Sauget and the Gateway Grizzlies. It marks the third-straight year (fourth in six seasons) Franklin Pierce has reached the Division II World Series, but will travel to Sauget for the first time after making four trips to Montgomery, Ala., whose run of hosting the championships ended after 23 years. The Ravens will face Central Region champions University of Central Missouri (45-15) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (EDT).

We’ve had such success here and (during the season) we lose a couple games and people are making a big deal out of it,” said Franklin Pierce Head Coach Jayson King. “But the guys stepped up and did the job and made it happen. I’m proud because it wasn’t a cake walk this year and I’m happy to have the chance to go out and win a national championship.”

Bryant, regular season champions of the Northeast-10 Conference, sees its final season at the Division II level come to a close with an overall record of 43-21 (25-5 NE-10). The Bulldogs, who begin their transition period to Division I in 2008-09, battled back from losing its first game of the regional, 7-6 to Dowling College on Thursday, through the loser’s bracket to force Franklin Pierce into the decisive 11th game of the regional.

Senior centerfielder Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the regional for the second-straight year. He hit a combined .522 (12-for-23) over Franklin Pierce’s five games with seven runs scored, two doubles, five home runs (one in each game), a stolen base and 15 RBI. A remarkable ten of Renaud’s 15 RBI came with two outs and he hit 6-for-9 in that situation for the weekend.

Franklin Pierce drove in 37 of its 59 runs scored for the weekend with two out as the Ravens hit .486 (36-for-74) as a team with two outs for the weekend. Joining Renaud on the Northeast Regional All-Tournament team from Franklin Pierce are junior first baseman Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./St. Mary’s), junior shortstop Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North), junior pitcher Mike Adams (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park), sophomore outfielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) and sophomore pitcher Brian Maloney (Brockton, Mass./Brockton).

“We’re hitting the ball as hard as I have ever had a team here hit the ball,” said King. “I really like the team we have going into this and look forward to the next stage.”

Rivers led Franklin Pierce this afternoon, hitting a combined 6-for-10 with four runs scored, a double, two home runs and five RBI in the two games. Renaud was 5-for-10 with two runs scored, a double, two homers and four RBI, while Savastano finished 4-for-8 with four runs scored, a home run and three RBI.

Senior Mark Dondero (Medfield, Mass./Xavarian) was a combined 5-for-8 this afternoon for Bryant with two RBI and a stolen base. Junior Pat O’Connor (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester) hit 3-for-6 with four runs scored, a home run and four RBI today.

Franklin Pierce 10, Bryant 3
Franklin Pierce scored nine runs between the sixth and seventh innings to turn a 1-1 deadlock into a 10-1 lead en route to clinching the regional title.

“We knew Bryant has a good team and was going to play us tough,” said Jayson King. “But I felt no team was going to beat us twice today.”

Mike Adams, the Northeast-10 and Daktronics Northeast Region Pitcher of the Year, pinned down his program-record 11th win of the season (11-1) with his second victory of the regional, settling down the Bryant bats which had scored 12 runs in the first game and were averaging 10.5 runs in its four wins since dropping its opening game of the regional on Thursday. Adams allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits with ten strikeouts and three walks over eight-plus innings on just three days rest.

“I was a little tight and didn’t know how I was going to feel today (on three day’s rest),” said Adams. “I felt good the other day when I threw (on the side) and no matter what I was going to go out there.”

Kevin Rivers paced the Ravens offense, hitting 3-for-4 with a double, home run, two runs scored and three RBI. Kevin Renaud was 1-for-4 with a homer and two RBI, while Scott Savastano finished 1-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored and three RBI.

Senior Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) led Bryant, going 3-for-5 with a run scored. Sophomore Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) hit 2-for-5 with a home run, RBI and two runs scored. Mark Dondero finished 1-for-3 with a stolen base.

Senior righthander Eric Loh (Old Greenwich, R.I./Greenwich) suffered the loss on the mound for the Bulldogs, surrendering five runs, four earned, on four hits with six strikeouts and a walk over 5.2 innings. Loh breezed through the first five innings, facing just one over the minimum in that time.

Loh had retired 13 in a row after getting the first out of the sixth, but Franklin Pierce grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) got an infield hit and freshman Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) drew a two-out walk before Savastano chased a pitch over the fence in right that was able to get up into the gusting wind which prevailed through the two games.

“I just got it up in the wind and when the outfielder was coming in (at first), I thought it was an easy pop fly,” said Savastano. “But it just kept going.”

Rivers followed by belting Loh’s very next pitch well over the right field fence for his ninth home run of the season (eighth in nine postseason games), ending the Bryant starter’s day. Franklin Pierce broke the game open with its five-run seventh. Steve Carr led off with a homer to right center, while Renaud added a two-run blast and Rivers collected a two-run double.

Bryant got just one run in the eighth despite loading the bases. Junior Dave Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) was hit by an Adams pitch to drive in a run, but the Ravens righthander got a strikeout to strand three Bulldogs on base. Bryant closed out the scoring with an unearned run in the ninth as Alexander singled to lead off the inning and later scored when sophomore Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) reached on an error.

Bryant 12, Franklin Pierce 10
Bryant forced the winner-take-all game 11 with a back and forth 12-10 victory in today’s first game. The two clubs combined for 31 hits along with the 22 combined runs scored. They also combined to strand 22 runners on base (12 for Franklin Pierce).

Pat O’Connor greeted Franklin Pierce senior reliever Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./Milford) with a three-run home run to put Bryant in front for good after the Ravens had gained an 8-7 advantage with five runs in the top of the inning. O’Connor added a sacrifice fly in the seventh, while Jeff Vigurs drove in a run with a ground out to put the Bulldogs up 12-9.

Franklin Pierce threatened in the top of the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate after a leadoff double by grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) down the leftfield line. However, Bryant sophomore closer Eric Polvani (Wallingford, Conn./Sheehan) rebounded to hand Renaud his first strikeout of the weekend and also fanned Derek Ingui to get to two outs. Savastano singled up the middle to drive in Christman, but Rivers flied out to left to end the game.

Franklin Pierce trailed 7-3 after four innings before erupting for five in the fifth as Rivers smacked a two-run homer and Christman and sophomore Matt Skeffington (Auburn, N.H./Pendleton) collected RBI before taking the lead on an RBI double down the leftfield line by Renaud.

O’Connor finished 2-for-2 with a pair of walks, his 11th home run of the season, four runs scored and four RBI. Junior Pat McKenna (Orange, Conn./Amity) also drove in four runs, while Vigurs hit 3-for-5 with two RBI.

Senior Luke Cowan (Houston, Texas/Wilton (Conn.)) picked up the win in relief for the Bulldogs, allowing just an earned run on four hits with a strikeout and no walks over two innings of work.

Kevin Renaud was 4-for-6 at the plate for Franklin Pierce with a double, home run and two RBI. Senior catcher Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) was 3-for-3 with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBI, while Rivers finished 3-for-6 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBI.


2008 NCAA Division II Northeast Regional Championship
All-Tournament Team

C – Jeff Vigurs, Bryant
1B – Steve Carr, Franklin Pierce
2B – Dave Muscatello, Bryant
SS – Scott Savastano, Franklin Pierce
3B – Gabriel Molina, Caldwell
OF – Kevin Renaud, Franklin Pierce
OF – Kevin Rivers, Franklin Pierce

OF – Pat O’Connor, Bryant
DH – Pat McKenna, Bryant
P – Brian Maloney, Franklin Pierce
P – Mike Adams, Franklin Pierce

Most Outstanding Player – Kevin Renaud, Franklin Pierce