MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (February 24, 2022) -- With most of New England set to be buried by a late-February storm, the Franklin Pierce University baseball team has escaped to the Palmetto State, to open its 2022 campaign with a quintet of games at The Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach. Graduate student left-hander Patrick Hannon (Willington, Conn.) started things in style for the Ravens, with nine strikeouts over eight four-hit, one-run innings on the mound. Junior Jethro Hurt (New York, N.Y.) went deep in his return to the lineup, and Hurt and sophomore Ryan Lavelle (East Longmeadow, Mass.) drove in three apiece, as Franklin Pierce ran up a 13-2 Opening Day victory over Stonehill.

With the win, Franklin Pierce gets off to a 1-0 start, while Stonehill falls to 0-1.

After battling injury through 16.2 largely ineffective innings a year ago, Hannon earned the start in the opener via his work on the mound in the fall and through the winter. The towering left-hander took the ball and did not disappoint, as he fired a career-best eight innings of four-hit ball. Hannon surrendered just one unearned run, walked one and struck out nine, which was also a career high, on the way to the win (1-0).

Meanwhile, the Ravens, playing as the visiting team, got the offense going early, with one in the top of the first and two more in the second to give Hannon a 3-0 cushion. In the first, sophomore Randy Flores (Brooklyn, N.Y.) singled, stole both second and third, and then scored on an RBI single by sophomore Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.). In the second, graduate student Brian Hadden (Newburyport, Mass.) took a one-out walk and then Hurt launched a two-run home run, as he returned to the lineup with an exclamation mark after making only 15 plate appearances over five games last season.

Stonehill got on the board with an unearned tally in the last of the third. Junior Conor Kiely reached on a one-out error by graduate student Charles Lebron (Brooklyn, N.Y.) at third, moved to second on a passed ball and came around to score on an RBI single by senior Noah Lucier.

Franklin Pierce poured it on the rest of the way, as two in the fourth, one in the fifth and another in the sixth stretched the lead out to 7-1. In the fourth, junior Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) was hit by a pitch and scored on an RBI groundout by Lavelle, while Hadden singled and later scored when Flores worked a bases-loaded walk. In the fifth, Battipaglia walked and eventually scored when Hurt bounced into a fielder's choice to drive in his third run of the day. In the sixth, Flores tripled and then scored on a sacrifice fly to right by junior Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.).

A four-spot in the seventh broke things wide open, and the Ravens added single runs in the eighth and ninth to run their total to a baker's dozen. Stonehill got one back in the bottom of the ninth on a solo home run by freshman Taylor Gaspar to create the 13-2 final.

Senior right-hander Luke Marshall (0-1) took the ball and the loss for Stonehill after five subpar innings of work. He allowed six runs on five hits, issued seven walks, hit a pair and struck out three.

The Ravens are right back at it on Friday in Myrtle Beach, with a 5 p.m. contest against Post.