Hawks complete midweek series sweep, handing Ravens fourth-straight loss

RINDGE, N.H. (April 24, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University, ranked eighth in this week’s pingbaseball.com and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II polls and 13th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, has lost four-straight games for the first time since 2004 after suffering a 7-2 setback to Saint Anselm College in Northeast-10 Conference baseball action at Sullivan Park tonight.

Senior Nick Barese (Braintree, Mass./Braintree) allowed just an earned run, while scattering nine hits over eight innings to earn his fourth win of the season (4-2) on the mound for Saint Anselm. He struck out four and walked just one on the day.

Senior Ryan Gargan (Byfield, Mass./St. John’s Prep) hit 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI for the Hawks, while classmate Adam Hussey (Danvers, Mass./St. John’s Prep) was 1-for-3 with a stolen base, two runs scored and two RBI.

Senior Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./Milford) batted 3-for-4 for Franklin Pierce with a double, run scored and RBI. Grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) hit 2-for-4 with an RBI, while senior Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. Junior Randy Bernosky (Port Huron, Mich./Port Huron Northern) was also 2-for-4 with a double.

Sophomore Tyler Sykes (Sterling, Mass./St. Peter Marian) suffered the loss, yielding three earned runs on two hits and a walk in just a third of an inning.

Saint Anselm struck first, chasing Sykes after just five batters. He retired the first batter of the game, then allowed four-straight base runners, yielding a three-run home run to right by Gargan, ending his day with a hit batter. Franklin Pierce got a run back in the seventh, as Anderson led off with a single to center and later scored on a double to center by Bishop with one out.

Saint Anselm responded with four in the home half of the seventh to break the game open. Hussey collected a two-run single up the middle after the first two Hawk batters of the inning were retired. Gargan added an RBI single to left and sophomore Eric Baca (Franklin, N.H./Franklin) also chipped in an RBI single down the leftfield line. Franklin Pierce got three hits in the ninth, but scored just one run on an RBI single by Christman, but couldn’t get any closer.

Franklin Pierce (29-11-1, 14-9-1 NE-10) is back in action tomorrow night, when it hosts The College of Saint Rose at 6 p.m. Saint Anselm (15-24, 11-15 NE-10) hosts Southern Connecticut State University for an NE-10 doubleheader on Saturday at noon.