Ingui goes 3-for-5 to push average to .413 on penultimate day of regular season

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. (May 6, 2011) – Freshman first baseman Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H.) and sophomore left fielder Nick LaCroix (Grafton, Mass.) each hit home runs on Friday afternoon, while junior left-hander Gregg Downing (Queens, N.Y.) fired eight innings of four-hit ball with 10 strikeouts to lead the No. 15/23 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team to a 12-1 win over Merrimack in Northeast-10 Conference play at Warrior Baseball Diamond. Six of Franklin Pierce's nine starters had multiple hits in the game.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 34-10 (18-6 Northeast-10), while Merrimack falls to 13-27 (5-19 Northeast-10). Franklin Pierce heads into Saturday's doubleheader at New Haven, the regular-season finale, tied with Massachusetts Lowell for second place in the Conference. The top two teams will earn first-round byes in next week's Northeast-10 Championship. Franklin Pierce can clinch a bye with two wins at New Haven, and would host the Championship if it finishes in front of Lowell.

Franklin Pierce opened the scoring with three runs in the top of the second and never looked back. Senior designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass.) led off with a single through the left side of the infield and scored when Mathieu followed with his third home run of the season on a line drive to straightaway center field. Later, with one out, junior third baseman Isaac Wenrich (Westlawn, Pa.) pushed a double down the left-field line and scored on an RBI single back through the middle by freshman center fielder Ross Lincoln (Woodstock, Conn.).

Ingui would finish the day 3-for-5 to push his batting average to .413 (64-for-155). He is attempting to become the first Raven to hit over .400 in a season since the Northeast-10 switched to wood bats.

Merrimack would put together its only run of the game in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 3-1. With one out, freshman shortstop Eddie Newton worked a walk, moved to third as an error and then a single by sophomore second baseman Brett Julian loaded the bases. Newton would score on an RBI single through the left side by junior left fielder Tim Curran, but Downing would strike out the next two batters to end the inning.

Downing was nearly unhittable the rest of the afternoon on the way to earning the win (7-1). Outside of the third inning, he allowed only two hits and four baserunners. Three of those baserunners were erased at second on double plays, while the other was left at first base, meaning the third inning was the only frame in which Merrimack got runners in scoring position. Over his eight innings, Downing held the third, fourth and fifth Merrimack hitters to a 1-for-9 performance with five strikeouts. He did not allow an extra-base hit and faced just 29 batters over eight innings, five over the minimum, before freshman right-hander Kevin McGowan (Nashua, N.H.) pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to wrap up the game.

Franklin Pierce added to its lead with two more in the top of the third to make it a 5-1 game. LaCroix led off the inning and clubbed a home run to left field, his third of the season. Next, Wenrich pulled a single to right, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on an RBI single to left by junior second baseman Dan Hennigan (Downingtown, Pa.).

The Ravens broke the game wide open in the late innings with two in the seventh, one in the eighth and four in the ninth to create the 12-1 final. In the seventh, Ingui led off with a double to left and later came into score when Mathieu reached on an error. Mathieu would later score on an RBI single through the left side by LaCroix. Hennigan singled and scored an unearned run in the eighth, while junior right fielder Mike Munoz (Bronx, N.Y.) hit a two-run double and junior catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass.) drove home a pair with a single to center field in the ninth.

Junior right-hander Chris Pinette started and took the loss (2-5) on the hill for Merrimack. Over seven innings, he allowed seven runs (six earned) on 14 hits, walked one, hit a batter and did not record a strikeout. In fact, Franklin Pierce hitters struck out just twice over the course of 43 at-bats in the game.

The Ravens return to the field on Saturday, May 7, when they travel to New Haven for a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader, the regular-season finale. First pitch is scheduled for noon at Frank Vieira Field in West Haven, Conn.

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).