RINDGE, N.H. (3/24/23) - The No. 15 ranked Franklin Pierce baseball team's bats were on fire Friday afternoon, as they opened their home schedule with a doubleheader series with Saint Michael's College on Friday afternoon, sweeping the Purple Knights by scores of 22-4 and 11-1 at Pappas Field.  

With the pair of wins, baseball has now won their past five matchups while outscoring opponents 68-19 across that span. Pierce baseball improves to 14-4 (2-0 NE10) on the season, while the Purple Knights fall to 0-12 (0-2 NE10).  

GAME #1 

Saint Michael's tested the Ravens early in the top of the first inning, but failed to get any runs through junior pitcher Kyle Roche (Braintree, Mass.) who would force the Purple Knights to leave three stranded to open the game. To open the scoring in the bottom half, senior Joseph Pesce (Lake Mary, Fla.) plated Joel Lara () on an RBI single to left. Two batters later, junior Jose Savinon (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored another pair of runs on a two-run shot over the right-field fence, extending the Raven lead to 3-0. 

Action would slow down slightly until the third inning, where junior Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.) tripled home Joe Pesce to further the Raven lead to 4-0. Fast forwarding ahead to the fifth, sophomore Connor Smalley (West Sayville, N.Y.) then made it a 5-0 game after driving in Battipaglia on a RBI double.  

In the top of the sixth, with two outs the Ravens botched a fly ball with the bases loaded, allowing two runs to score for the Purple Knights to cut the lead down to three at 5-2, with both RBI belonging to infielder Ryan Canty.  However, the bottom of the inning would feature a 10-0 scoring stretch for Pierce where Julien Monks, Jake Miller, and Max Gebauer (Guilderland, N.Y.) each doubled in runs, ending the inning with a 15-2 advantage for the hosts.   

Despite surrendering one run to the Purple Knights in the top of the seventh,  the Ravens would add another four to bring things to a 19-3 score, finishing the run on what would be Joe Pesce's fifth hit of the game. Three final runs would once again score with the help of RBI singles by Pesce and junior Ryan Spreckles (Levittown, N.Y.), finishing the offensive effort with a 22-3 lead. Saint Mike's would snag one final run before the end of the contest, finalizing the 22-4 effort.   

Kyle Roche earned his fifth win of the season for the Ravens through six innings pitched, striking out eight batters with two runs allowed on five hits.  

GAME #2

Franklin Pierce once again jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first, scoring four runs. After a leadoff fly-out to center, the Ravens went to work loading the bases on a single, double and walk. From there, sophomore Connor Smalley got things going with a two RBI double up the middle, which was then followed up with a sacrifice fly-out by junior Julien Monks to make it a 3-0 game early. Senior Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) added the fourth run of the inning on a RBI double to left, scoring Smalley from third.

Ian Battipaglia gave the Ravens a 5-0 edge in the second, scoring baserunner Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.) with an RBI double to right. With a runner now stationed at second, Jose Savinon crushed his second homer of the day, quickly putting the game out of reach at 7-0 Ravens. Franklin Pierce would continue to extend their lead with a single run in the third, as freshman Adam Dadinos (East Hartford, Conn.) sacrifice lineout to center by Joe Pesce.

Play would go scoreless through two consecutive frames before the Ravens added another trio of runs in the bottom of the sixth. With runners at the corners, Connor Smalley would plate his second RBI of the game on a single to left. A pitch would then make contact with the next Pierce batter to load the bases once again, leading to their final two runs of the frame coming home off of consecutive walks.

To spoil the shutout bid, Saint Michael's was able to get on the scoreboard in the top of seventh, but would only conjure up the lone run through the seven-inning, 11-1 effort.

Junior Chaz Powell (Stamford, Conn.) secured his fourth win (4-0) of the season for the Ravens, striking out seven Purple Knight batters with four hits allowed through five innings of scoreless work. Powell turned it over to Jackson Walker (Phippsburg, Maine) for the final two innings, who struck out another three batters with one run allowed on one hit.

Franklin Pierce baseball will return to play against the Purple Knights over the weekend, with the series finishing doubleheader scheduled for this Sunday, March 26^th for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch.