Fuller tosses first shutout against Ravens this season, scattering five hits over nine

RINDGE, N.H. (April 14, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University, ranked eighth in this week’s pingbaseball.com Division II poll and 16th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, was shutout for the first time this season, dropping a 3-0 decision to Southern Connecticut State University, ranked eighth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Northeast Regional rankings, at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.

Sophomore lefthander Jim Fuller (Marlborough, Mass.) scattered five singles over nine shutout innings on the mound for Southern Connecticut to improve to 7-1 on the season. He struck out seven and walked just one and retired 14 Franklin Pierce batters in a row during one stretch in the middle of the game.

Freshman Nick DeProspo (Worcester, Mass./St. John’s) paced the Owls offense, hitting 2-for-3 with a home run. Junior Kevin Bowerman (West Haven, Conn./West Haven) was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, while junior Karl Derbacher (Northford, Conn./North Branford) batted 1-for-3 with an RBI. Freshman Andrew Babb (Hopkinton, Mass./Ashland) chipped in with a home run.

Junior Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./St. Mary’s) was the lone Franklin Pierce batter with multiple hits, going 2-for-4. Grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) finished 1-for-3 with a stolen base.

Junior lefthander Tom Cote (Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock Regional) was the hard-luck losing pitcher for the Ravens (2-2), surrendering two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over six-plus innings.

The game was scoreless until Southern broke through on DeProspo’s first collegiate home run to right field to lead off the fifth inning. The Owls added a second run in the seventh as senior Paul Izzo (Cohoes, N.Y./Cohoes) chased Cote with a lead off single up the middle and later scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Derbacher. SCSU got an additional insurance run with one out in the eighth on Babb’s first collegiate homer to right.

Scoring chances were slim for Franklin Pierce, but the Ravens had two runners in scoring position and just one out in the second inning after back-to-back singles by sophomore Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) and Carr and an error on a pickoff attempt. However, Fuller recovered to get a strike out and pop-up to escape the jam.

Franklin Pierce (24-7, 9-5 NE-10) is back in action tomorrow when it visits American International College at 3:30 p.m. The Ravens return home on Thursday to host AIC at 3:30 p.m. Southern Connecticut (18-14, 8-5 NE-10) hosts Bryant University, ranked second in the region, tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.