NE10 Championship Central

RINDGE, N.H. (May 11, 2017) – On Friday afternoon at Frank Vieira Field on the campus of the University of New Haven, the Franklin Pierce University baseball team will meet No. 4/5 nationally ranked Southern New Hampshire for the fourth time this season. This time, the contest comes on the second day of the Northeast-10 Conference Championship, and is a de facto semifinal contest, with the winner headed straight to Saturday's championship round.

It will mark the third straight year the two East Region powers have met in the postseason, tough the first time they've come together in the NE10 Championship. In the double-elimination tournament, the loser of the contest will get another shot, later on Friday, to advance to Saturday's title round. The updated tournament schedule, through Thursday's action, is as follows:

Northeast-10 Baseball Championship
Hosted by University of New Haven
Frank Vieira Field
West Haven, Conn.
(Seeds in parentheses)

Thursday, May 11
Game 5: (NE2) Franklin Pierce def. (SW4) Pace, 14-1
Game 6: (NE1) Southern New Hampshire def. (SW2) New Haven, 1-0

Friday, May 12
Game 7: Pace at New Haven -- 10 a.m. (loser eliminated)
Game 8: Franklin Pierce vs. Southern New Hampshire -- 12:30 p.m.
Game 9: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser -- 3 p.m. (loser eliminated)

Saturday, May 13
Game 10: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner -- 11 a.m.
Game 11: Game 10 rematch* -- 35 minutes following conclusion of Game 10.
* Game 11 only necessary if Game 9 Winner wins Game 10.

All games to begin at scheduled time or 35 minutes after conclusion of previous game, whichever is later. Please be advised, Saturday's schedule is expected to change, due to anticipated wet weather. More details will be made available after the conclusion of play Friday.

Scouting the Ravens

Franklin Pierce (32-13) -- the Northeast Division's second seed -- has been making plenty of noise to start the postseason, as the Ravens have outscored their opponents 22-1 through their first two games in the NE10 Championship. Following an 8-0 win at home over Merrimack in the First Round on Tuesday night, the Ravens cruised past Pace with a 14-1 win. Franklin Pierce capitalized on five errors, four hit batsmen and three walks to pile up 13 runs on just five hits in the bottom of the seventh inning and break open what had been a 1-1 game.

Through the team's first two NE10 Championship contests, junior catcher Stephen Octave (New Windsor, N.Y.) leads the way for the offense. He is 5-for-9 with a double, has scored twice and has driven in three runs. Junior third baseman John Friday (Southborough, Mass.) has already scored five runs through two postseason games. Four members of the Franklin Pierce lineup have an on-base percentage of .400 or higher in the tournament.

Scouting the Penmen

By contrast, Southern New Hampshire (41-7) -- the Northeast Division's top seed -- has squeaked out a pair of one-run victories so far in the NE10 Championship. At home on Tuesday night in the First Round, the Penmen got a one-out triple from graduate student shortstop Zach Goldstein and a game-winning RBI single from senior left fielder Derek Bauer in the bottom of the 10th to pick up a 2-1 win over Bentley. On Thursday afternoon against host New Haven, junior first baseman Ryan Sullivan launched his NE10-leading 11th home run of the season in bottom of the eighth for the game's only run in a 1-0 win.

The Penmen boast a league-best eight All-Conference selections, as well as the NE10 Player of the Year, in Goldstein, and the NE10 Coach of the Year, in Scott Loiseau '02, who is a Franklin Pierce alum. The Penmen put three members of their lineup on the All-NE10 First Team: Goldstein (.333/.475/.497 with 47 runs scored), Sullivan (.290/.393/.517 with 17 extra-base hits) and junior right fielder Caleb Potter (.327/.405/.536 with 19 extra-base hits). Junior right-hander Mitchell Powers, who posted three complete-game wins against the Ravens this season, made it four Penmen on the First Team.

On the Mound

Franklin Pierce is expected to send junior right-hander Mike Lundin (Kingston, Mass.) to the mound on Friday, for his fourth start of the season against SNHU. He took the loss in all three outings despite strong peripheral numbers, though he surrendered too many free baserunners to the Penmen by walking six and hitting seven batters over 15.2 innings of work. In all against SNHU this season, Lundin has allowed eight runs (four earned) on seven hits, struck out 14, posted a 2.30 ERA and held the Penmen to a .143 batting average.

On the season this spring, Lundin -- who missed 2016 due to Tommy John surgery -- has struggled to go deep into games, but has posted strong numbers over 38 innings of work as he tries to recapture the form of his All-Region 2015 campaign. In 10 appearances, including eight starts, he has not gone beyond six innings, and has allowed 12 runs (six earned) on 16 hits, with 12 walks against 33 strikeouts (7.82 per nine innings). Lundin has posted a 1.42 ERA with a 3-3 record and one save.

Friday will, amazingly, be Lundin's seventh career start against SNHU, as he also started all three regular-season games against the Penmen in 2015. Over 22 innings of work against SNHU as a sophomore, he allowed five runs (four earned) on 11 hits, walked five, hit two batters and struck out 18 to post a 1.64 ERA and a 2-0 record.

Friday will mark Lundin's first postseason start against the Penmen, and his third career postseason start. All told, in his career against SNHU, over 37.2 innings of work, he has allowed 13 runs (eight earned) on 18 hits, walked 11, hit nine batters and struck out 32. It has all added up to a 1.91 ERA and a .151 batting average against, but just a 2-3 record.

The Penmen are expected to counter with junior right-hander Andrew Lalonde, who will make his first career postseason start. It is Lalonde's first season as a pitcher for SNHU, as he played primarily as a catcher a year ago, when he hit .314/.379/.451 over 51 at-bats in 18 games.

On the season, Lalonde has made 10 appearances, including five starts, to total 40.2 innings. He has surrendered 14 runs (12 earned) on 32 hits, walked 18 and struck out 46 (10.18 per nine innings) on the way to a 2.66 ERA and a 5-1 record.

Lalonde has never faced the Ravens.

Earlier this Season

The Ravens and the Penmen met three times during the regular season, with SNHU taking all three contests: 1-0 at Franklin Pierce on April 5, 8-2 at SNHU on April 18, and 3-1 at SNHU on May 2. It marked the first time either team had swept a three-game series from the other, and was the first series sweep since 2012, when SNHU won each of two regular-season games against Franklin Pierce.

The Ravens will be happy to be rid of Powers for Friday at least, as the sophomore went the distance in all three regular-season meetings between the two. He authored a five-hit shutout in Rindge on April 5, struck out 11 against just one walk at SNHU on April 18 and piled up 12 strikeouts without issuing a walk at SNHU on May 2.

Previously in the Postseason

Friday will be the sixth all-time postseason meeting between the intrastate rivals though, as mentioned above, it will be the first time the two have met in the NE10 Championship. Each of the previous five postseason contests have come in the NCAA East Regional, where the Ravens hold a 3-2 advantage.

A year ago, the two met in the title round of the East Regional at Pappas Field. In the first game, Jake Walkinshaw -- who has missed much of this season due to injury -- fired 4.1 innings of one-run relief as the Penmen picked up a 4-3 win to force a winner-take-all final game of the tournament. The Ravens bounced back in the second game, where they used a two-run homer in the seventh by current assistant coach Maxx Sheehan to break a 3-3 tie and vault to a 6-3 win and the regional crown.

The Ravens took the lone East Regional meeting between the teams two years ago as well, in an elimination game on Friday night in Rindge. Matt Walsh went 2-for-4 and drove in four runs as Franklin Pierce pulled away late for an 8-2 win.

The most epic game in the history of the rivalry came in a de facto East Regional semifinal on Saturday night at the 2013 tournament, with the Ravens pulling out a 3-2 win in 13 innings on the road at Penmen Field en route to the regional crown. Marty Dunlap had the game-winning hit in the top of the 13th, Doug Willey logged 3.2 innings of two-hit relief, and NE10 Pitcher of the Year Trevor Graham came out of the bullpen in the bottom of the 13th to nail down the save.

The first-ever postseason meeting between the two came at SNHU in the 2012 East Regional, in another de facto semifinal contest. En route to their regional title, the Penmen got a complete-game six-hitter from Junior Mendez to down the Ravens 5-1 and advance through to the title game.

Headed to the Game?

If you plan on making the trip to West Haven on Thursday, New Haven's Championship Central page, which includes directions and ticket information, can be found here.

Ticket prices are set as follows:

Adults - $6
Children/Seniors - $4
Students (with valid ID from NE10 institutions) - $1

Per Conference policy, no complimentary admissions will be issued.

How to Follow Along

If you prefer to follow the action from home, from work or from elsewhere, both live video and live stats will be available.

Live stats | Video

Up Next

As outlined in the schedule above, the winner of Friday's game advances through to Saturday's championship round, currently slated to begin at 11 a.m., but subject to change due to incoming wet weather. The winner will have two chances to claim the NE10 crown on Saturday, as they will be undefeated entering the final day of the double-elimination tournament.

The loser will return to the field immediately, at 3 p.m. Friday, in an elimination contest. They will face the winner of Friday's first game, which features Thursday's losing teams, New Haven and Pace. The winner of Friday's third and final game will advance to the championship round, but would need two wins on Saturday to claim the title.

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).