NCAA East Regional Championship Cenral

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. (May 20, 2018) – Trailing by two runs through eight innings on Sunday afternoon, the fifth-seeded Franklin Pierce University baseball team was able to get the tying run to the plate, but no further, in an elimination game on the fourth day of the NCAA Championship East Regional, hosted by University of New Haven, at Peter X. Finnerty Field on the campus of Pace University. The Ravens plated one run in the ninth, but still came up one run short, as they saw their season end in a 5-4 loss, at the hands of host, top seed and No. 8/16 nationally ranked New Haven. Senior catcher Stephen Octave (New Windsor, N.Y.) homered for Franklin Pierce in the fourth inning of what would be his final collegiate game.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce's season draws to a close at 33-15-1. It was the 17^th straight season of at least 30 wins for the Ravens, who made their 14^th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championship.

With the win, New Haven improves to 39-11. The Chargers advance to play another elimination game on Sunday night, against second-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Ravens opened the scoring on Sunday, with a pair of runs in the top of the second. With one out, Octave dumped a single into right-center field, and then moved around to third when senior right fielder Zack Tower (Auburn, Mass.) followed and laced a line-drive double off the fence deep in the gap in left-center. Sophomore designated hitter Dylan Jones (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) was next and hit what would have been an RBI groundout to the shortstop to score Octave, but Jones wound up safe at first base on an error anyway, as graduate student Tom Walraven bounced the throw to first. With runners at the corners and one away, the Ravens put on the first-and-third double-steal play, which plated Tower with the game's second run.

New Haven jumped out front with three runs in a soggy bottom of the third inning. Junior left-hander Evan Glew (North Andover, Mass.) got himself in trouble, as he walked sophomore center fielder Matt Chamberlain on six pitches and then hit sophomore left fielder Billy Huber with the third pitch of his plate appearance to put runners at first and second with nobody out. After a line drive to left for the first out, Glew had run the count to 2-0 on senior right fielder Joe Caico, when the skies briefly opened up, bringing about a 27-minute rain delay. Just moments after the delay ended, Caico clubbed a 3-1 pitch to straightaway right field for a three-run home run, his fifth of the season.

The Ravens responded in kind in the top of the fourth inning, as they used a leadoff home run to level the game at 3-3. Octave jumped on the second pitch of the inning and launched a long, no-doubt home run to the power alley in left-center, his ninth of the season. It was the 16^th and final home run of Octave's collegiate career, and he finished with 111 career RBIs, which is good enough to tie for 19^th in program history.

New Haven took the lead for good with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, working against junior right-hander Anthony Matarazzo (Medford, Mass.). Walraven led off with a double into the gap in left-center, later stole third as part of a double-steal, and scored when junior first baseman Andrew Garcia lofted a sacrifice fly down the right-field line.

The Chargers tacked on what would stand as a pivotal insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Again Walraven started things with a leadoff double, this time down the left-field line. He moved to third on a groundout, which caused the Ravens to pull the infield in with one out. Graduate student third baseman Jack Zagaja was next and took the first pitch he saw back towards the middle of the diamond. Sophomore shortstop Joe Napolitano (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) laid out to his left and got a glove on the ball, but it deflected away towards second base for an RBI single to make it a 5-3 game.

After going in order in the eighth against sophomore right-hander Brandon LaManna, the Ravens made things interesting against senior left-hander Kellen Croce in the top of the ninth. Junior left-fielder Brad Roberto (San Diego, Calif.) led off with a roller up the middle and legged out an infield single. He would move to second base, before a strikeout of Octave and a groundout by Tower put Franklin Pierce down to its final out. The groundout moved Roberto to third, and he scored from there as Jones lined an RBI single into left field to cut the gap to 5-4. Jones was lifted for a pinch runner, in the form of senior Tim Going (Islip, N.Y.), who would move to second when sophomore second baseman James Boria (Massapequa, N.Y.) followed with a walk. With the tying run now at second base, Franklin Pierce sent up sophomore J.R. DiSarcina (Barnstable, Mass.) as a pinch hitter, but he struck out swinging on three pitches as Croce finished off his 10^th save of the season.

Glew logged the first 3.2 innings on the mound and did not factor in the decision for Franklin Pierce. He allowed three runs on two hits, walked two, hit two batters and struck out two. Matarazzo (3-3) followed and suffered the loss while throwing the next 3.2 innings. He surrendered two runs on six hits and struck out two.

On the other side of the ledger, freshman right-hander Izaiya Mestre (8-2) started and fired 101 pitches (67 strikes) over seven innings on the hill for New Haven, to equal his longest outing of the season. He allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits, walked three and struck out six.

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).