WALTHAM, Mass. (March 31, 2021) -- For the second straight trip to Bentley, the Franklin Pierce University baseball team dropped a close first game, and then plated a slew of runs to win the second game of a doubleheader. On Wednesday afternoon, Bentley walked off via wild pitch for a 4-3 win in the first game at DeFelice Field. In the second game, the Ravens hammered out 15 hits against seven Bentley pitchers on the way to an 18-10 victory.

With the split in Northeast-10 Conference play, Franklin Pierce moves to 5-2 (2-2 NE10), while Bentley now stands at 2-2 (2-2 NE10). The two teams split their four-game season series.

Game 1: Bentley 4, Franklin Pierce 3

The first game of the day was a seven-inning affair, and the two sides were knotted at 3-3 through six. With the score still tied heading for the home half of the seventh, Bentley was able to plate the winning run without benefit of a hit, to walk off with the 4-3 victory.

It took three Franklin Pierce pitchers to surrender the winning run, starting with sophomore Hunter Reynolds (Marlborough, Mass.), who walked the first two batters of the inning, including sophomore Joe Boushell, who would eventually score the walk-off winner. Reynolds gave way to junior Danny Gracia (Wilmington, Mass.), who hit the only batter he faced, to load the bases with nobody out. Sophomore Jackson Walker (Phippsburg, Maine) took over and got junior Liam Sears to line into a double play at first base and put the Ravens on the verge of getting out of the jam. However, Walker then uncorked a wild pitch which allowed the winning run to score.

Earlier in the game, Bentley had taken a 2-0 lead on a two-run single to left by Sears in the bottom of the third. Franklin Pierce evened things in the top of the fourth, as junior Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) clubbed a two-run double into left-center. The two teams then traded runs in the fifth, as the Ravens got an RBI single the other way into left field by senior Jonel Ozuna (New York, N.Y.) and the Falcons answered in the bottom half, when Sears doubled to left and later scored on a wild pitch.

Bentley's run in the seventh made a winner out of senior right-hander Jimmy Hodgson (1-0), who threw the final three innings, allowed one run on two hits and three walks, and struck out two. He did so in relief of graduate student left-hander Lloyd Hill, who threw 71 pitches (34 strikes) over the first four innings. He allowed two runs on one hit, walked four and struck out two.

Reynolds (0-1) was the fifth of seven Franklin Pierce pitchers in the contest and suffered the loss. He retired three of the five batters he faced, but walked the other two, including the eventual winning run.

Game 2: Franklin Pierce 18, Bentley 10

In the second game, Franklin Pierce trailed, 10-9, heading into the seventh inning, but then used a loud top of the seventh to take control of the game. The Ravens plated seven runs on just four hits, as they were helped along by a pair of walks, a wild pitch and a quartet of stolen bases. Graduate student James Boria (Massapequa, N.Y.) had the frame's keynote address, as he socked a three-run home run, his first of the season, to left field, which turned a 13-10 lead into a 16-10 one. Franklin Pierce had claimed the lead earlier in the inning on a two-run single by graduate student Tyler Patane (Lake Grove, N.Y.), while Ozuna added a two-run double in the inning as well.

The Ravens tacked on single runs in the eighth and ninth to extend the final deficit to 18-10. In the eighth, senior Dylan Jones (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) reached on an error and later scored on an RBI single by Ozuna, who drove in four runs in the game. In the ninth, junior Graham Smith (Wilmington, Mass.) was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on an RBI single through the left side of the infield by junior Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.).

The truckload of late runs made a winner (1-0) out of sophomore Andres Auffant (Center Moriches, N.Y.), who had an interesting afternoon on the mound. The right-hander filled up the strike zone over six innings, as 62 of his 78 pitches went for strikes, but he was ultimately charged with 10 runs (five earned) on 10 hits. Auffant did not issue a walk and struck out three.

For Bentley, freshman right-hander Ryan Sullivan (0-1) came on to start the sixth and would ultimately take the loss. In 1.1 innings of work, he allowed three runs on one hit, walked one and struck out one.

The Ravens are scheduled to return to action when they host Assumption for a four-game weekend series on Friday and Saturday, April 2-3. Doubleheaders are slated to start at 3 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday at Pappas Field in Rindge.