Ravens ride eight-run third to victory behind 15-hit attack

RINDGE, N.H. (April 8, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University, ranked fourth in this week’s pingbaseball.com Division II poll, sixth in the NCBWA poll and eighth in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, rolled to a 10-2 victory over the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Northeast-10 Conference baseball action at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.

Franklin Pierce pounded out 15 hits, including five for extra bases, and used an eight-run third to put the game away early. Freshman Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) led the way, batting 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and three RBI. Senior Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge) was 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI, while grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) batted 3-for-5 with a double, stolen base and run scored. Junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) finished 2-for-4 with a double and RBI.

Junior Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./St. Mary’s) chipped in two hits, including a double, while senior Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) added two RBI. Sophomore Brian Maloney (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) picked up the win on the mound (4-0), allowing two earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over six innings.

Senior Tim Manton (Swansea, Mass./Joseph Case) was the lone UMass Lowell batter with multiple hits, going 2-for-5 with a run scored. Sophomore Jared Notargiacomo (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) hit 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI, while freshman Mark Wiggins (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) was 1-for-2.

Freshman Kyle Davis (Rochester, N.H./Spaulding) took the loss for the River Hawks (2-2), surrendering seven earned runs on seven hits and four walks, with a strikeout in 2.2 innings.

Franklin Pierce opened the scoring with a single run in the first as junior Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) drew a two-out, bases loaded walk. The Ravens erupted with eight runs in the third. Anderson got the inning started with a two-run single, before Ingui delivered a bases-clearing three-run double into the gap through the left side. Savastano collected an RBI single up the middle before Renaud capped the frame with a two-run homer to left.

UMass Lowell got two runs back in the fourth after its first two batters of the inning reached. Notargiacomo drove in both runs with a two-out double to left center. Franklin Pierce rounded out the scoring in the home half on a two-out RBI single down the leftfield line by freshman Kyle Cabral (New Bedford, Mass./New Bedford) that scored Carr, who reached with a double.

Franklin Pierce (22-3, 7-1 NE-10) is back in action tomorrow when it visits Merrimack College at 3:30 p.m. UMass Lowell is off until these two teams complete their two-game midweek series on Thursday in Lowell, Mass., at 7 p.m.