Ravens score six unanswered runs in game one to escape with 6-5 victory, Wasylow shuts down Spartans in 4-0 game-two win

PALM BEACH, Fla. (March 15, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University, ranked sixth in the latest pingbaseball.com Div. II poll, seventh in the Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA) Div. II poll and 11th in this week’s Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, took both ends of a doubleheader against Saint Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday at the Santaluces Sports Complex. The Ravens scored the final six runs of the opener to earn a 6-5 comeback victory, then shut the Spartans out in the second game for a 4-0 win.


Franklin Pierce 6, St. Thomas Aquinas 5 (Game One)

Saint Thomas Aquinas began the doubleheader strong by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning, but Franklin Pierce overcame the Spartans’ hot start with the final six runs of the game in a 6-5 win.

Junior captain Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./Lake City CC) went 1-for-3 to pace the Raven attack, clubbing a three-run home run in the second inning to begin the Franklin Pierce comeback. Sophomore Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) had two hits in two at-bats, including a triple and a walk, while graduate student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) went 1-for-4 with an RBI.

While the pitching staff kept the Ravens close, the Franklin Pierce offense scored three times each off Spartan hurlers Joel Violette (Frederictown, Canada/Leo Hayes) and Mark Fochesato (Middletown, N.Y./Pine Bush). Carr’s three-run home run in the second inning brought the Ravens back within two and ended Violette’s day after only 1 1/3 innings.

After knotting the game with a pair of runs in the third inning, the team manufactured a run in the sixth to take its only lead of the day. Senior captain Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./Univ. of Tampa) began the rally with a single and then stole second base before Christman knocked him in with an RBI single, scoring the game-winning run.

The Spartans got five runs in the first inning off junior lefthander Tom Cote (Swanzey, N.H./UMass Amherst), as Vincent Malzahn (Sparrowbush, N.Y./Port Jervis) and David Schwartz (Nanuet, N.Y./Rockland CC) each had RBI doubles to lead the way. But Cote shut down the Aquinas offense the rest of the way, finishing with five runs (four earned) on seven hits in six innings of work. Bishop worked the ninth inning to pick up his second save of the year.


Franklin Pierce 4, St. Thomas Aquinas 0 (Game Two)

The Ravens ran their streak of unanswered runs to 10 in the second half of the doubleheader, scoring three times in the third and once in the fourth in cruising to a 4-0 victory.

Sophomore Heath Wasylow (Rehoboth, Mass./Dighton-Rehoboth) held Saint Thomas Aquinas at bay through his outing, going seven scoreless innings and ceding four hits and three walks while striking out eight.

Wasylow received all the run support he would need in the third inning, thanks to a three-run triple by senior Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Becker College). Senior captain Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) began the inning with a single while Christman and junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) each worked walks before Renaud’s key hit.

Renaud finished the day 2-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base. Junior Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) scored the Ravens’ final run of the day in the fourth inning, reaching on a walk and eventually scoring on an errant pickoff attempt.