Ravens pitching fans 17

MANCHESTER, N.H. (April 24, 2013) – Two-base miscues in both the ninth and 10th innings were the difference on Wednesday night, as the No. 20/23 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University baseball team turned a 3-2 ninth-inning lead into a 4-3, 10-inning road loss to Southern New Hampshire in Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division play at Penmen Field. Franklin Pierce pitching issued 11 walks in the game, though surprisingly none would come around to score.

With the loss, Franklin Pierce falls to 27-13 (17-4 Northeast-10, 10-4 Northeast Division), while SNHU improves to 27-13 (13-10 Northeast-10, 10-6 Northeast Division). Franklin Pierce is now tied in the loss column with Bentley (9-4) at the top of the Northeast Division standings, after the Falcons posted a 3-1 win at home against Stonehill on Wednesday.

The win clinches the three-game season series for SNHU, giving the Penmen a tiebreaker should the two teams wind up tied at the end of regular-season play next weekend. In addition, head-to-head play is a factor in seeding and selection to the NCAA Championship East Regional. Unless the two clubs meet in the Northeast-10 Championship, SNHU will own the head-to-head matchup come Selection Sunday. The first official NCAA East Region rankings were published earlier Wednesday, with SNHU currently second and Franklin Pierce fourth.

With the game tied 3-3 through nine-and-a-half innings, SNHU would plate the winning run without recording a hit in the home half of the 10th. Sophomore right-hander Brendan O'Rourke (Shrewsbury, Mass.) took over on the mound for Franklin Pierce to start the inning, but he drilled freshman shortstop Zach Goldstein in the back with a 2-0 fastball to start the inning and was lifted in favor of senior right-hander Matt Horan (Boston, Mass.). Horan issued a six-pitch walk to junior center fielder Brendan O'Brien, which pushed the winning run into scoring position with nobody out.

SNHU sent graduate student left fielder Andrew Pezzuto to the plate to lay down a sacrifice bunt, though he would bunt it straight back to Horan coming off the mound. Horan fielded cleanly and spun to attempt to force out the lead runner Goldstein at third base. The throw was on the bag and in plenty of time, but sophomore third baseman Matt O'Herron (Springfield, Mass.) attempted to catch the throw backhanded at the same time as he arrived at the base. The ball redirected off his glove and to the fence on the third-base side for an error which allowed Goldstein to score the winning run.

An inning earlier, working against junior right-hander Joe Flynn (Plymouth, Mass.), SNHU erased a 3-2, ninth-inning deficit with just one hit. With two outs and nobody on, senior shortstop Matt Boulter singled back up the middle and took second on a wild pitch. Flynn would follow with another pitch in the dirt for another wild pitch, which would have moved Boulter up to third and left the Ravens with one more chance to win the game. However, the ball took an odd hop off of junior catcher Marty Dunlap (Dorchester, Mass.) and took a right turn towards the SNHU dugout on the third-base side. Dunlap appeared to believe he had blocked the ball and was unable to locate it. Flynn scrambled from the mound to track down the ball himself, but he was not quick enough to keep Boulter from scoring from second on the wild pitch.

The late-innings meltdown wasted a solid, if imperfect, effort from senior left-hander Vladimir Camacho (Jamaica Plain, Mass.), who made his second start of the season. Over six innings and 114 pitches, he was touched for six hits, issued seven walks and threw a wild pitch, but allowed only one run as he also piled up a career-best 12 strikeouts. Camacho also picked off two baserunners and recorded only four outs on balls put in play, all via the groundball. He was long gone by the time a decision was reached, as O'Rourke suffered the loss (3-2) out of the bullpen after hitting the only batter he faced.

Camacho was matched step-for-step by SNHU junior right-hander Junior Mendez, who went seven innings, but also did not factor in the decision. He allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits, walked one, hit a batter, threw a wild pitch and struck out 12 while throwing 116 pitches. After a perfect eighth from junior right-hander Tyler Gauthier, fellow junior right-hander Alex Powers took over with a runner on third and one out in the top of the ninth. Over 1.2 innings, he struck out two, walked one, did not allow a hit, and earned the win (2-0) after SNHU scored in the bottom of the 10th.

Earlier in the contest, Franklin Pierce built a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third innings. In the second, Dunlap ripped a two-out double over the head of Pezzuto in left field and scored when O'Herron followed with an RBI double into the gap in right-center.

For all the brilliant starting pitching, the defense played by both teams was anything but, an issue which first came to light in the third, after senior shortstop Dan Kemp (Sturbridge, Mass.) went back up the middle for a one-out single and stole second. Two batters later, Kemp was being waved around third on a two-out single to left by senior right fielder Nick LaCroix (Grafton, Mass.), but scored easily, as the ball got by Pezzuto -- who was likely rushing himself anticipating a chance for a play at the plate -- and all the way to the wall. LaCroix wound up on third on the play, but was picked off by the catcher to end the inning.

SNHU got on the board with a run in the bottom of the fourth to cut the gap to 2-1. Senior first baseman Andy Lalli led off with a single to center and moved to second on a single back up the middle by Boulter. The runners would later move up on a passed ball and Lalli came home to score on a wild pitch.

The Ravens picked up what seemed like an important insurance run at the time in the top of the seventh inning, again courtesy of a miscue by the Penmen defense. With one out, freshman second baseman Justin Brock (Latham, N.Y.) was hit by a pitch and stole second. Two batters later, Brock would score from there after Kemp chopped a ball on the left side of second base which Boulter boxed around for an error.

In a sign of what would allow SNHU to tie and win the game later, the Penmen capitalized on an eighth-inning Franklin Pierce misplay to cut the lead to one run at 3-2. With one out, Goldstein singled off the end of the bat and into shallow right field. With O'Brien at the plate, a pickoff throw in the dirt by sophomore right-hander Doug Willey (Shelburne, N.H.) got behind junior first baseman Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H.), which allowed Goldstein to advance all the way to third. O'Brien then lifted a sacrifice fly to center to drive home the run.

The Ravens return to the field on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28, when they travel to Merrimack for a three-game Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division weekend series. The two teams will meet in a single game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and in a doubleheader on Sunday at noon at Warrior Baseball Diamond in North Andover, Mass.

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).