Cliff Hicks scores three runs

Box Score

RINDGE, N.H. (April 22, 2009) – Senior left-hander Alex Szymanski (Londonderry, N.H./Northern Essex CC) threw eight innings without allowing an earned run on Wednesday afternoon to lead the Franklin Pierce University baseball team to a 7-1 victory over New Haven in Northeast-10 Conference play at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. Seven different Ravens drove in a run on the day. Sophomore designated hitter Dan Harper (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River Comm. HS) drove in the lone run of the day for New Haven in defeat.

New Haven opened the scoring with an unearned run in the top of the second inning. With two outs, junior center fielder Kyle Donnelly (Oneonta, N.Y./Oneonta) reached second base as he hit a fly ball to left field which was dropped on the warning track by Franklin Pierce senior left fielder Ted Lerud (Hampden, Mass./Minnechaug Regional). Harper followed and lined an RBI double the other way into the gap in right-center field to plate the run.

Franklin Pierce answered with a run in the bottom half of the second to even the score at 1-1. With one out, graduate student center fielder Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack HS) was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored when senior first baseman Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./Lake City CC) lined an RBI single off the New Haven second baseman and into right field.

Franklin Pierce took a 3-1 lead with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Lerud led off with a single past the third baseman and moved around to third as Hicks laid down a sacrifice bunt but wound up on second base as the pitcher threw the ball away trying to throw out Hicks at first. Freshman third baseman Ben Benigno (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) followed with an RBI infield single in the hole at shortstop to drive home Lerud and move Hicks to third. Junior second baseman Cody Kauffman (Blue Bell, Pa./Univ. of Massachusetts) then pushed a safety squeeze up the third-base line which drove in Hicks and turned into an RBI sacrifice bunt as Kauffman was thrown out at first.

The Ravens pushed the lead to 6-1 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sophomore designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) led off, lined a single to left field and came all the way around to score when freshman catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) clubbed a double deep into the left-center field gap. Dowd in turn moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Lerud. Three batters later, Hicks hammered a solo home run, his third of the season, well beyond the fence in the left-center field power alley.

Franklin Pierce tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth inning to create the 7-1 final. Carr led off with a single back through the middle, moved to second and third on consecutive groundouts and scored on an RBI double to right field by Ingui.

Szymanski fired eight innings and allowed only one unearned run to pick up the win (4-1) on the mound for Franklin Pierce. He gave up just four hits, walked one and struck out six.

Senior right-hander Kyle Bombace (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) started and took the loss (0-2) on the hill for New Haven. Over five innings, he surrendered six runs (four earned) on seven hits, did not issue a walk, hit a batter and struck out four.

The Ravens (25-14, 16-5 Northeast-10) return to the field on Thursday, April 23, when they travel to Pace for a Northeast-10 Conference contest. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Finnerty Field in Pleasantville, N.Y. Franklin Pierce next plays at home on Friday, April 24 against Pace at 3:30 p.m. New Haven (16-15, 12-11 Northeast-10) returns to action on April 23 at Bentley.