Adams strong in claiming sixth win of the season, Rivers paces offense with three hits, three RBI

RINDGE, N.H. (April 10, 2008) – Franklin Pierce University, ranked fourth in this week’s pingbaseball.com Division II poll, sixth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll and eighth in the Collegiate Baseball magazine poll, rolled to its second win of the week over the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Northeast-10 Conference baseball action at LeLacheur Park tonight.

Junior All-Region righthander Mike Adams (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park), scratched from Tuesday’s start against UMass Lowell due to illness, returned to the mound and dominated to improve to 6-0 on the season (12-0 career). He scattered three UML singles in 7.2 shutout innings to go with six strikeouts and no walks.

Sophomore Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) paced the Ravens 12-hit attack, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, a run scored and three RBI. Senior Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) was 3-for-5 with two doubles, a stolen base, run scored and two RBI, while junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) batted 2-for-3 with a stolen base and two runs scored. Grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) chipped in two RBI.

Sophomore Luke Wallace (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) and freshman Sean Burns (Colchester, Vt./Colchester) each hit 1-for-3 with a walk to lead UMass Lowell. Junior Jeffrey Maloney (Haverhill, Mass./Haverhill) took the loss on the mound for the River Hawks (3-2), yielding five earned runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over six innings.

Franklin Pierce, who posted a 10-2 victory over UMass Lowell in Rindge on Tuesday, got on the board tonight with a single run in the first. Savastano reached with a two-out single, and after advancing to third on a single by senior Kevin Renaud (Southbridge, Mass./Southbridge), scored on a delayed double steal.

Franklin Pierce added two runs in the third when Rivers delivered a two-run single up the middle with two outs. The Ravens broke the game open late, scoring seven runs over the final four innings. Anderson had an RBI single and junior Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) scored on another delayed steal of home in the Ravens two-run sixth.

Rivers drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Franklin Pierce broke the game open with a three-run eighth. Christman drove in two runs with a double down the line in right and freshman Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) drove in a run with a sac fly. Rivers led off with the ninth with a double and later scored on Anderson’s second double of the night to round out the scoring.

Franklin Pierce (23-4, 8-2 NE-10) is back in action on Saturday when it hosts Bentley College for an NE-10 doubleheader at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field at noon. UMass Lowell (11-16, 8-5 NE-10) hosts Mercy for a non-conference clash tomorrow at 1 p.m.