Hood goes 3-for-4; Graves adds 2-for-4, scores twice

RINDGE, N.H. (April 13, 2014) – On a Sunday afternoon when the bullpen was in dire need of a day off, sophomore right-hander Paul Covelle (Medford, Mass.) provided exactly that, as he authored a four-hit complete game to lead the No. 29 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team to a 5-4 win in the rubber game of its three-game weekend series with Merrimack at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field. Covelle stumbled in the second inning, but was lights out otherwise in the 127-pitch effort, while the Franklin Pierce offense provided an 11-hit attack to back him.

With the win, Franklin Pierce improves to 25-12 (12-5 Northeast-10, 7-4 Northeast Division), while Merrimack falls to 15-15 (9-10 Northeast-10, 3-5 Northeast Division).

Franklin Pierce opened the scoring on Sunday afternoon with a run in the home half of the first inning. Senior center fielder Calvin Graves (Boston, Mass.) led off and dumped a single into right-center field. Three batters later, he went first-to-third as junior catcher Matt Walsh (Plymouth, Mass.) put a hit-and-run single through the vacated right side of the infield. Senior designated hitter Marty Dunlap (Dorchester, Mass.) was next and went the other way for an RBI single to right field to drive in Graves.

Covelle's only trouble spot of the afternoon came in the top of the second inning, as Merrimack plated four early runs to jump to a 4-1 lead. Sophomore first baseman Matt Brown led off with a ground ball towards the hole in the right side of the infield. Freshman second baseman Kyle Hood (Arlington, Mass.) made a sliding attempt while ranging to his left and got a glove on the ball, but could only manage to re-direct it towards the right-field line as it went for a single. A five-pitch walk to sophomore designated hitter Sean O'Neill put runners at first and second for freshman left fielder Ryan Petrone, who was jammed and sent a weak pop-up into shallow right field. The ball wound up in no-man's land between Hood and junior right fielder John Razzino (Cranston, R.I.) and fell for a single to load the bases.

Junior catcher Dionys Quezada was next and, with the outfield shading him towards his pull field, lifted a fly ball the other way towards the gap in right-center. The ball nearly hung in the air long enough for Graves to make a play on it, but his sliding attempt came up empty and the ball went for a two-run double, scoring both Brown and O'Neill. After a lineout at Hood at second for the second out, sophomore center fielder Bobby Losanno drilled a two-run double into the gap in right-center to score both Petrone and Quezada.

The four-spot would be the only time Merrimack even threatened to score against Covelle, as he faced only 23 batters over the final seven innings without allowing a hit, or either runner -- both reached via walks -- to advance beyond first base. After the Losanno double, he retired the next 10 Merrimack batters before issuing a two-out walk to sophomore third baseman Frank Crinella in the fifth. From there, Covelle sent 11 more Warriors straight back to the dugout before a one-out walk to O'Neill in the ninth.

In all, Covelle allowed four runs on four hits, walked three, threw a wild pitch and struck out six on the way to his second complete game of the season and the win (2-2).

Meanwhile, the Franklin Pierce offense set about tying the game at 4-4 immediately with three runs in the home half of the second inning, as the Ravens were able to capitalize on a pair of defensive miscues by Merrimack. Sophomore first baseman Matt O'Herron (Springfield, Mass.) took a five-pitch walk leading off and went first-to-third on a first-pitch, hit-and-run single through the right side of the infield by Hood. Sophomore shortstop Justin Brock (Latham, N.Y.) then turned on the first pitch and hit a chopper down the third-base line. O'Herron, who had come down the line on his secondary lead, was hung out to dry as Crinella snared the grounder and tagged him out.

With runners at first and second with one out now, Graves hit a possible double-play ball to sophomore shortstop Mike Forgione, but Forgione's throw pulled senior second baseman Eddie Newton off the bag, leaving the bases loaded on the throwing error. Razzino followed and hit a grounder to third base, which Crinella fielded cleanly. He elected to come home for the force play on Hood, but airmailed the ball to the backstop instead, which allowed both Hood and Brock to come home to score. With his defense unraveling around him, Merrimack junior right-hander Tim Cashman appeared to come unnerved a little himself, as he proceeded to balk home Graves with the third run of the inning.

The Ravens took the lead for good with a run in the bottom of the third inning, which proved to be the final run of the afternoon for either side. Dunlap opened the inning with a third-pitch single through the left side of the infield and moved to second two batters later on a groundout by O'Herron. Hood followed and took a 3-1 pitch through the left side of the infield for an RBI single.

Things got tense on the field as the game stayed stuck at 5-4 for the remainder of the afternoon and Covelle refused to allow further hits to the Merrimack lineup. The two teams appeared to tire of each other, as plenty of words had been shared between the two dugouts over the course of the weekend's three games. From the middle innings on, Merrimack hitters insisted on running every flyball hit to the outfield all the way out to second base, regardless of how soon it was caught, an act which wore thin with the Franklin Pierce middle infield.

While retiring the Warriors in order in the top of the seventh, Covelle got Losanno to bounce back to the mound for what would become the third out of the inning. Covelle deliberately fielded the soft chopper with his bare hand, flipped it to first for the inning's final out and stared into the Merrimack dugout on his way off the field. The two teams continued the chatter from one dugout to the other for the rest of the afternoon, but Franklin Pierce came away with the last laugh, as Covelle recorded two strikeouts and a flyout to surround the one-out walk in the ninth and send Merrimack packing with the 5-4 loss.

Cashman threw 87 pitches while logging the first seven innings on the mound for Merrimack. He allowed five runs (two earned) on 10 hits, walked one, balked once and struck out three while taking the loss (2-2).

The Ravens return to the field on Tuesday, April 15, when they travel to Southern New Hampshire for a Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division contest. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Penmen Field in Manchester, N.H. Franklin Pierce next plays at home on Thursday, April 17 against Assumption at 6 p.m.

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). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce baseball apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).