Graduate student tosses 7.2 to pick up win

Box Score

RINDGE, N.H. (May 10, 2009) – Graduate student left-hander Steve Cadoret (Sterling, Mass./Boston College) allowed just one run on six hits over 7.2 innings on Sunday afternoon to lead the top-seeded Franklin Pierce University baseball team to a 6-1 victory over second-seeded Assumption in the final game of the Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championship at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. The win gave Franklin Pierce its third consecutive Northeast-10 Championship, as well as its fourth title in five years.

By winning the Northeast-10 Championship, Franklin Pierce (37-16) receives the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship East Regional. The field and host locations for the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship are expected to be released later Sunday night. Franklin Pierce is the three-time defending regional champion. Assumption (32-19-1) will await word on its potential East Regional bid.

Sophomore designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) was named Most Valuable Player of the Northeast-10 Championship. In five games in the championship, he hit .542 (13-for-24) with four doubles, two home runs, eight runs batted in and 12 runs scored. Freshman catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) and senior left fielder Ted Lerud (Hampden, Mass./Minnechaug Regional) were both named to the All-Championship Team.

Assumption opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning. With one out, senior shortstop Mike Baillargeon (Worcester, Mass./Burncoat) knocked a solo home run, his team-leading 11th of the season to straightaway left field.

Franklin Pierce answered with two runs in the home half of the first to take a 2-1 lead. Ingui led off with a single through the left side of the infield, moved to second on a single back up the middle by Dowd and scored on an RBI single pulled through the right side by junior right fielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern). Dowd then scored from second on a line drive single to left field by Lerud.

The Ravens picked up three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to open up a 5-1 lead. Senior first baseman Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./Lake City CC) turned on the first pitch of the inning and deposited it well beyond the 365-foot sign in the right-center field gap for a solo home run, his sixth of the season. Freshman third baseman Ben Benigno (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) came up next and went the other way down the right-field line for his third home run of the season. Junior second baseman Cody Kauffman (Blue Bell, Pa./Univ. of Massachusetts) followed with a double down the left-field line, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI single to center field by Ingui.

Franklin Pierce added a run via a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning to create the 6-1 final.

Cadoret started on the mound and picked up the win (1-4) for Franklin Pierce. Over 7.2 innings, he allowed just one run on six hits, threw a wild pitch and recorded a career-high seven strikeouts.

Sophomore right-hander Joe Martini (Arlington, Mass./Suffield Academy) started and took the loss (3-2) for Assumption. In five innings on the hill, he allowed five runs on 10 hits, walked two and struck out two.