Dowd 3-for-5, drives home four

WALTHAM, Mass. (March 30, 2011) – The No. 15/19 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team piled up seven runs on five hits, including a pair of doubles, in the top of the fourth inning on Wednesday afternoon on its way to a 12-2 win over Bentley in Northeast-10 Conference play at DeFelice Field. Junior catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass.) went 3-for-5 with a double, drove in four runs and scored twice in the victory for Franklin Pierce.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 20-4 (6-0 Northeast-10) and has won nine straight games, matching its season high. Bentley falls to 6-13 (0-4 Northeast-10).

The Ravens opened the scoring with a run in both the top of first and second innings and never looked back. In the first, junior second baseman Dan Hennigan (Downingtown, Pa.) led off the game with a single to right and went all the way around to third when the Bentley starter, junior left-hander Blaine McLean, threw away a pickoff attempt. Hennigan would score on an RBI groundout to shortstop by senior right fielder Mike Munoz (Bronx, N.Y.). In the second, sophomore center fielder Nick LaCroix (Grafton, Mass.) worked a one-out walk, moved to second on a groundout and scored on an RBI single to right by freshman left fielder Calvin Graves (Boston, Mass.).

Franklin Pierce broke the game wide open in the fourth with seven runs as 11 batters came to the plate. Freshman first baseman Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H.) led off the inning with a double to right field and later scored from third on an errant pickoff attempt of a runner at first base. Sophomore shortstop Dan Kemp (Sturbridge, Mass.) drove in the second run of the inning with a single to right-center before a pair of walks loaded the bases in front of Dowd and senior designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass.). Dowd put a single back through the middle of the infield to plate two runs and Ingui scorched a double over the head of the center fielder to score two more. Mathieu came back up to cap the inning's scoring with an RBI infield single to give the Ravens a 9-0 lead.

Bentley got on the board with a run in the home half of the fourth. The Falcons loaded the bases as junior catcher Greg Baggett, junior left fielder Mark Lane and junior first baseman Kevin Korwek looped consecutive one-out singles into right field. Freshman designated hitter Dante Padovani followed and chopped a ball off the plate. The Franklin Pierce starter, sophomore right-hander Joe Flynn (Plymouth, Mass.), fielded the ball and tried to force out Baggett at home, but the throw was not in time, giving Padovani an RBI infield single. Flynn would then get junior right fielder Vinnie Eruzione to ground into an inning-ending double play to avert further damage.

Franklin Pierce pushed the lead as high as 12-1 with three runs in the top of the eighth inning. Dowd drove home two more runs with a single through the right side, while junior Isaac Wenrich (Westlawn, Pa.) brought home a run with a pinch-hit single to left.

Bentley picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth to create the 12-2 final, as senior center fielder Chris Hardy walked and later scored from third on an errant throw from the catcher to second base in an attempt to throw out a base-stealer in a first-and-third situation.

Flynn started and threw six innings on the mound to pick up the win (2-2) for Franklin Pierce. He allowed one run on seven hits, hit a batter and struck out three.

McLean started on the hill for Bentley and took the loss (1-2). Over four innings of work, he was touched up for nine runs on eight hits, walked four, hit a batter and did not record a strikeout.

The Ravens are currently scheduled to return to the field on Friday, April 1, when they travel to Assumption for a Northeast-10 Conference contest. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at H.L. Rocheleau Memorial Field in Worcester, Mass. With wintry weather expected in the area, please continue to check http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu for changes to the weekend schedule as they become available.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics).