Senior turns in eight shutout innings

Box Score

RINDGE, N.H. (April 24, 2009) – Senior left-hander Tom Cote (Swanzey, N.H./Univ. of Massachusetts) tossed eight shutout innings and struck out 10 on Friday afternoon to lead the Franklin Pierce University baseball team to its seventh consecutive victory, an 8-0 win over Pace in Northeast-10 Conference play at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. Freshman catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) went 2-for-2 with a home run, drove in two runs and scored twice in the win for Franklin Pierce.

Franklin Pierce opened the scoring with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second inning. Sophomore designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) led off and reached on a fielding error by the first baseman and moved to second when Dowd followed with a walk. Ingui then moved over to third on a fly ball to right field by junior right fielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern). Dowd then stole second and was able to move to third while Ingui scored from third as the catcher’s throw sailed into center field. Dowd would score on an RBI groundout by senior left fielder Ted Lerud (Hampden, Mass./Minnechaug Regional).

The Ravens pushed the lead to 3-0 with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Ingui led off with a triple up against the fence in the right-center field power alley and scored when Dowd followed and dumped an RBI single into shallow right-center.

Franklin Pierce made it a 4-0 game with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, senior first baseman Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./Lake City CC) lined a single to right field, moved to second on an errand pickoff attempt, stole third and scored as junior second baseman Cody Kauffman (Blue Bell, Pa./Univ. of Massachusetts) laid down a successful squeeze bunt to pick up an RBI via the sacrifice.

The Ravens added another run in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 5-0. With two outs, Rivers worked a walk and stole second. Lerud then reached on an infield single and Rivers came in to score as the shortstop threw the ball away trying to throw out Lerud at first.

Franklin Pierce picked up two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it a 7-0 game. Dowd led off the inning with his sixth home run of the season, a solo shot to left-center. With one out, Lerud pulled a single into left-center, moved to second on a wild pitch and came into score when Hicks lined and RBI double into the gap in left-center field.

The Ravens tacked on a run on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Jake Ferreira (Westport, Mass./Bishop Stang) in the bottom of the eighth inning to create the 8-0 final.

Cote turned in his third consecutive start of eight shutout innings and double-digit strikeouts on the hill for Franklin Pierce. He allowed four hits, did not issue a walk, threw a wild pitch and struck out 10 to pick up his team-leading seventh win (7-2). Cote has now thrown 30.1 innings without allowing a run. The last team to score on the southpaw was Bentley, which scored twice in the bottom of the second inning on April 7.

Senior left-hander Nicholas DeMeo (Farmingville, N.Y./Sachem East) threw five innings and took the loss (1-2) on the mound for Pace. He allowed five runs (one earned) on six hits, walked two, hit a batter and struck out three.

The Ravens (27-14, 18-5 Northeast-10) return to the field on Saturday, April 25, when they travel to New Haven for a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for noon at Frank Vieira Field in West Haven, Conn. Pace (17-24-1, 11-14 Northeast-10) returns to action on April 25 at Massachusetts Lowell.