WALTHAM, Mass. (March 27, 2021) -- Following a tough-to-swallow loss in the first game on Saturday, the No. 16 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team bounced back with a baker's dozen in the second game of a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader at Bentley. Graduate student Tyler Patane (Lake Grove, N.Y.) went 3-for-4, scored twice and drove in three runs to lead the way for the Ravens in a 13-6 victory. Earlier in the day, the Ravens opened their NE10 campaign on a sour note, as a bases-loaded walk forced home the game-winning run in a 5-4 Bentley win at DeFelice Field.

With the split, Franklin Pierce moves to 4-1 (1-1 NE10) on the young season, while Bentley opens its year at 1-1 (1-1 NE10). The two teams were scheduled to meet for a doubleheader at Bentley again on Sunday to wrap up the four-game season series. Due to impending wet weather, the second twinbill has been postponed until Wednesday, March 31 at noon in Waltham.

Game 1: Bentley 5, Franklin Pierce 4

Trailing 3-2 in the late innings, Franklin Pierce got a sudden jolt in the top of the eighth to tie the game. With one out, senior Dylan Jones (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) turned on a pitch for what looked to be extra bases down the left-field line. Instead, the ball held up just long enough to get Jones all the bases, as the line drive slipped over the fence for his first home run of the season.

With the game now tied 3-3 headed to the ninth, both bullpens abdicated the responsibility of throwing strikes. In the top half, Bentley sophomore right-hander David Morganelli issued walks to junior Jethro Hurt (New York, N.Y.) and sophomore Jose Savinon (Brooklyn, N.Y.), before a single through the left side by junior Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) loaded the bases with nobody out. Morganelli bounced back to retire the next two batters, but then issued his third walk of the inning, to junior Randy Flores (Brooklyn, N.Y.), to force home the go-ahead run and gift Franklin Pierce a 4-3 lead.

The Ravens would leave the bases loaded though and it proved costly, as junior right-hander Ryan Mueller (Lynbrook, N.Y.) faced his own command struggles in the bottom half. Mueller struck out the first batter of the inning, but then back-to-back walks, plus an error on Flores at short, loaded the bases with one away. Bentley would not need to put bat to ball to win the game, as Mueller walked graduate student Ryan Berardino to force home the tying run and then issued a game-winning free pass to junior Liam Sears.

Mueller's final line was not pretty, as he logged 1.1 innings without allowing a hit, but suffered the loss (0-1) anyway, as he passed out five walks to surrender a pair of runs (one earned).

The late runs made a winner out of Morganelli (1-0) in spite of his lack of command. Over two innings of work, he allowed two runs on two hits and three walks, while striking out three.

Game 2: Franklin Pierce 13, Bentley 6

The second game was scheduled for seven innings, and the Ravens wasted no time taking out their frustrations from the first game on Bentley senior right-hander Jimmy Cunningham and seven relief pitchers. Franklin Pierce plated three in the first, four in the second and another in the third to build an 8-0 lead and never looked back.

In the first, Patane had an RBI single, while Miller clubbed a two-run double into the gap in left-center. In the second, junior Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.) went the other way for a two-run triple to right, Flores lifted a sacrifice fly to center, and Patane capped the inning with an RBI single to right. In the third, junior Ryan Lavelle (East Longmeadow, Mass.) yanked an RBI double inside third base and down the left-field line. Bentley would later cut the gap to 8-4, but a four-run fifth put the game on ice for Franklin Pierce.

The run barrage came in support of graduate student right-hander Derek Duffy (Farmington, Conn.), though he would not hang around long enough to factor in the decision. Duffy used 60 pitches (40 strikes) to get through 3.2 innings and did not get much help from his defense, as he surrendered four unearned runs on six hits while striking out four. Sophomore right-hander Jackson Walker (Phippsburg, Maine) notched his first collegiate win with 1.1 innings of scoreless work, with three strikeouts, out of the bullpen.

Meanwhile, Cunningham (0-1) faced nine batters, but retired only three of them, as he worked one inning and departed after the first three batters of the second all reached base. He was ultimately charged with six runs on five hits and a pair of walks.