#5/6 Franklin Pierce Opens With Wilmington Sweep
Ravens take game one, 9-1,
behind Adams complete game win
Ravens wrap up sweep as Vazquez fires five shutout innings in 6-1
game two win
NEW CASTLE, Del. (March 2, 2008) – Franklin Pierce
University, ranked fifth in this week’s pingbaseball.com
Division II poll and sixth in the Collegiate Baseball magazine
rankings, opened its season with a double-header sweep of
Wilmington (Del.) University in non-conference baseball action
today.
Franklin Pierce posted a 9-1 victory in game one, behind a
complete-game effort from junior All-Region righthander
Mike Adams (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park),
before completing the sweep with a 6-1 victory in the nightcap as
sophomore righthander Kyle Vazquez (Berlin,
Conn./Berlin) tossed five innings of shutout work.
Franklin Pierce 9, Wilmington (Del.) 1 (Game 1)
In game one, junior All-Region righthander Mike Adams went the
distance, allowing just an earned run, while scattering three hits
with no walks and a career-high ten strikeouts over nine innings to
lead Franklin Pierce to the season-opening win.
Senior All-Region outfielder Kevin Renaud (Southbridge,
Mass./Southbridge) paced the Ravens offense as he hit
3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, five RBI and three stolen bases.
Junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth,
Mass./Plymouth North) was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs
scored and two RBI. Junior Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./Lake
City CC) chipped in by batting 2-for-5.
Franklin Pierce struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the
first inning. Renaud followed a walk from All-Region grad student
Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) and
single by Savastano with a two-run double.
Wilmington drew within a run on Holliday’s solo home run off
Adams in the second, but Franklin Pierce answered with a run in the
third before breaking the game open with four in the fourth. Senior
All-Region catcher Matt Anderson (Medford,
Mass./Medford) drove in Savastano, who singled, with an
RBI single in the third. Savastano had a two run double and Renaud
delivered an RBI single to highlight the Ravens four-run fourth,
while Christman chipped in an RBI.
Franklin Pierce closed out the scoring with single runs in the
sixth and eighth innings.
Franklin Pierce 6, Wilmington (Del.) 1 (Game 2)
Franklin Pierce completed the sweep behind a balanced offensive
effort and five innings of four-hit shutout work from sophomore
Kyle Vazquez in the nightcap. Vazquez struck out six and walked
none to earn his first win of the season.
Junior Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack)
was the lone Franklin Pierce batter with multiple hits as he
finished 2-for-3 with a stolen base and run scored. Kevin Renaud
finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored, an RBI and two steals and
has now hit safely in 17-straight games dating back to last season.
Matt Anderson chipped in with two RBI.
Franklin Pierce again opened the scoring in the first inning as
sophomore Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol
Eastern) collected an RBI triple and later scored on a
throwing error. Anderson drove in Renaud, who was hit by a pitch,
with a sacrifice fly.
The Ravens added two in the third as Renaud posted an RBI single
and Anderson added his second sac fly of the game before closing
out the scoring with a single run in the sixth. Wilmington got on
the board with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
Franklin Pierce (2-0, 0-0 NE-10) is scheduled to be back in action
on Friday, when it visits Adelphi University, among teams receiving
votes nationally, at 3 p.m. Wilmington (0-2, 0-0 CACC) travels to
Florida this week, where it will face LIU-C.W. Post on Tuesday at
10 a.m.