Game called due to darkness

Box Score

MANCHESTER, N.H. (April 19, 2010) – Sophomore designated hitter Tim Quinn (Paxton, Mass.) and freshman shortstop Dan Kemp (Sturbridge, Mass.) drove in runs with back-to-back hits in the fifth inning on Monday afternoon for the No. 30 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team on the way to a 3-3 tie with Southern New Hampshire in Northeast-10 Conference play at Penmen Field. The game was called and declared a tie after 11 innings due to darkness.

With the tie, Franklin Pierce is now 26-11-1 (12-5-1 Northeast-10), while Southern New Hampshire moves to 14-19-1 (7-9-1 Northeast-10).

Franklin Pierce opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning. Senior second baseman Cody Kauffman (Blue Bell, Pa.) led off the game with a double to center field and moved to third on a groundout. He then scored on a squeeze-bunt RBI single by junior third baseman Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass.).

Southern New Hampshire would take a 2-1 lead with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Senior first baseman Eric Pelletier led off with a single to right field and moved to second two batters later on an infield single on the left side by freshman designated hitter Matt Boulter. Both players would score when sophomore catcher Kevin Spatkowski followed with a two-run triple to give SNHU the lead. Freshman second baseman Jon Massad was next and hit a potential sacrifice fly to center field, but Franklin Pierce freshman center fielder Nick LaCroix (Grafton, Mass.) made the catch and cut down Spatkowski at the plate to end the inning.

Franklin Pierce briefly jumped to a 3-2 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning. LaCroix led off, dropped a single inside the right-field line and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Next, Quinn and Kemp combined to give the Ravens the lead. Quinn was first and pumped a double into right field to score LaCroix. Quinn, in turn, scored on an RBI single into left-center by Kemp.

Southern New Hampshire responded immediately with a run in the home half of the fifth to tie the score at 3-3. With one out, freshman right fielder Scott Rogers clubbed a double to center field. Two batters later, he would hustle around to score on an infield single by junior shortstop Tim Rines.

In the sixth through 11th innings, the two teams would combine to leave 10 runners in scoring position, but neither could push across a run to break the deadlock. After over three-and-a-half hours, the game was called due to darkness at the end of the 11th inning.

Senior right-hander Heath Wasylow (Rehoboth, Mass.) started on the mound for Franklin Pierce. Over 4.1 innings of work, he allowed three runs on seven hits, walked one and struck out two. Three Ravens combined to toss 6.2 innings of shutout ball the rest of the way, led by junior right-hander Rob Nicholas (Southborough, Mass.), who fired 4.1 shutout innings, allowed two hits, walked one, threw a wild pitch and struck out five.

Sophomore right-hander Brad Monroe took the ball and threw nine innings on the afternoon for Southern New Hampshire. He surrendered three runs on seven hits, walked three, hit two batters and struck out 12.

The Ravens return to the field on Tuesday, April 20, when they travel to Stonehill for a Northeast-10 Conference contest. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at Lou Gormon Field in Easton, Mass.