Southpaw fans eight

Link to "On the Road with the Ravens" East Regional blog

MANCHESTER, N.H. (May 17, 2012) – Graduate student left-hander Jack Crawford (Montgomery, N.Y.) fired a three-hit shutout and struck out eight on Thursday night, as the No. 14/25 nationally ranked and third-seeded Franklin Pierce University baseball team defeated fourth-seeded Saint Anselm, 3-0, on the first day of the NCAA Baseball Championship East Regional, hosted by Southern New Hampshire at Penmen Field. Senior left-hander John Healy went the distance and tossed a seven-hitter in defeat for Saint Anselm.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 37-17-1 and advances to play at 7 p.m. Friday against fifth-seeded Wilmington (Del.) (33-16) in a winner's bracket game. With the loss, Saint Anselm falls to 28-24-2 and will face elimination at 3 p.m. Friday against second-seeded Le Moyne (40-14-1).

Crawford was lights out on the mound for the Ravens on the way to the win (7-2). He allowed just three hits in his fourth shutout of the season, as well as his fifth complete game. He did not issue a walk, hit a batter, struck out eight and faced only five batters over the minimum.

The Ravens opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Senior second baseman Dan Hennigan (Downingtown, Pa.) opened the frame with a single through the right side, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a flyout and scored while sophomore first baseman Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H.) reached on an error.

Franklin Pierce tacked on another run in the bottom of the second to double the lead to 2-0. With one out, senior designated hitter Isaac Wenrich (Westlawn, Pa.) knocked a single back up the middle and stole second. Later, with two outs, he rounded third hard as sophomore left fielder Calvin Graves (Boston, Mass.) hit a groundball to shortstop. Wenrich would score as Saint Anselm sophomore shortstop Tito Lluberes committed a throwing error.

The Ravens picked up a third run in the bottom of the fourth to extend the lead again to create the 3-0 final. Junior right fielder Nick LaCroix (Grafton, Mass.) led off with a single to left-center, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a RBI groundball by Wenrich, who reached on an error.

Healy also tossed a complete game and suffered the hard-luck loss (8-2) for Saint Anselm. He allowed three runs (but just one earned) on seven hits, did not issue a walk, hit a batter and struck out seven.

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).