RINDGE, N.H. (April 30, 2022) -- Three games into the four-game weekend series between the intrastate rivals, and the Franklin Pierce University baseball team and No. 11/13 nationally ranked Southern New Hampshire have yet to decide anything by more than one run. On Saturday night, the two sides split a pair of one-run, seven-inning contests in a nail-biter of a doubleheader at Pappas Field. In the first game, a third-inning single by junior Graham Smith (Wilmington, Mass.) put the Ravens out front and they held on the rest of the way for a 4-3 victory. In the nightcap, a bases-loaded walk to sophomore Cam Caraher in the top of the seventh broke a 1-1 tie and delivered SNHU a 2-1 win.

With the split, Franklin Pierce now stands at 24-13 (12-7 NE10), while SNHU moves to 32-8 (16-3 NE10). The two teams will wrap up the series at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Pappas Field, with Franklin Pierce's Senior Day festivities to precede the game, at 1:45 p.m.

Game 1: Franklin Pierce 4, SNHU 3

The runs started to come early on Saturday, as Franklin Pierce plated two in the bottom of the first and SNHU answered with one in the top of the second. The Penmen then struck for the lead with a pair in the top of the third. At the bottom of the order, senior Ricky Jimenez started the inning with a single to left-center, before a walk and a wild pitch put runners at second and third with nobody out. Sophomore Christian Mercedes lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, and two batters later, sophomore Nick Schwartz reached with a controversial, RBI, infield single on a bouncer to third. The bang-bang play at first saw the entire Franklin Pierce infield starting towards the dugout before the first-base umpire signaled 'safe'.

Franklin Pierce shook off the call and answered immediately though, with a pair in the home half of the third, which would hold up the rest of the way. Sophomore Hunter Wilichoski (Hamilton, Mass.) started things with a one-out single through the left side, took second on a wild pitch and scored when junior Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) poked an RBI single back up the middle. Next, it was the SNHU dugout's turn to express frustration with the umpires, as Miller went first-to-third on a single through right side by graduate student Charles Lebron (Brooklyn, N.Y.). SNHU freshman right fielder John Chacho made a strong throw to third base, which led to a close play, and Miller was ruled safe, much to the chagrin of the Penmen. Three batters later, Smith made it count, as he put an RBI single of his own back up the middle with two outs, though Lebron was thrown out at the plate to end the inning while attempting to score from second.

No matter though, as a pair of Franklin Pierce pitchers made the 4-3 lead hold up. Graduate student left-hander Patrick Hannon (Willington, Conn.) tossed the first five innings on 71 pitches (47 strikes). He allowed three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out two on the way to the win (6-1). Sophomore right-hander Hunter Reynolds (Marlborough, Mass.) took over from there, threw scoreless, hitless ball over the final two innings and locked down his third save of the season.

Sophomore right-hander Brandon White (6-2) went four-plus innings on 96 pitches (53 strikes) for SNHU. He surrendered four runs on five hits, walked five, hit two more and struck out two while suffering the loss.

Game 2: SNHU 2, Franklin Pierce 1

If the first game had been nerve-wracking, the second game ratcheted things up to 11. Neither team had so much as a hit through 3.5 innings, nor did either side score in the first four frames. The two teams traded a single run apiece in the fifth, though both had the opportunity for much more.

In the top half, SNHU loaded the bases with nobody out on consecutive singles by Chacho, graduate student Idelson Taveras and sophomore Danniel Rivera, which put sophomore right-hander Chaz Powell (Stamford, Conn.) into his first trouble of the night, with the 2-3-4 hitters in the Penmen lineup coming up. Powell got Mercedes to foul out to junior catcher Max Gebauer (Guilderland, N.Y.), and then senior Sam Henrie lifted a flyball to shallow right field, dragging Smith towards the line. Smith had time to line the ball up and made a strong throw to the plate, which easily arrived ahead of the tagging Chacho. However, Gebauer caught the throw awkwardly, stumbled away from the runner as he reeled it in, and was unable to apply the tag, as SNHU plated the game's first run. Powell bounced back immediately and got Schwartz to ground out to end the inning and prevent further damage.

Lebron erased the deficit immediately, as he led off the home half of the fifth with his sixth home run of the season, estimated at 370 feet to left-center. From there though, the Ravens missed their opportunity for more, as singles by Gebauer and sophomore Ryan Lavelle (East Longmeadow, Mass.), plus a walk to Smith loaded the bases, still with nobody out, against graduate student right-hander Josh Roberge. However, Roberge got sophomore Randy Flores (Brooklyn, N.Y.) on an infield fly, struck out junior Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.) and then induced a ground-ball fielder's choice from sophomore Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.) to leave all three runners out there.

SNHU eventually broke the tie in the top of the seventh, after senior right-hander Jake Ursillo (North Haledon, N.J.) got in trouble. A one-out infield single from Mercedes, a single by Henrie and a ground out by Schwartz conspired to put two in scoring position with one away. The Ravens elected to intentionally walk senior Dakota Mulcay and brought in sophomore right-hander James Draughn (Framingham, Mass.) to deal with Caraher. Draughn struggled to find the strike zone however, and issued a six-pitch walk to force home the go-ahead run.

The run was charged to Ursillo (5-3), who suffered the loss after allowing one run on two hits and a walk in 1.1 innings out of the bullpen. He worked in relief of Powell, who threw 92 pitches (53 strikes) over 5.1 innings, allowed one run on five hits, walked three, hit a batter and struck out two.

Roberge (6-3) went the distance on 98 pitches (68 strikes) for SNHU. He conceded just the one run on five hits, walked one and struck out nine.