RINDGE, N.H. (3/26/23) – In their second doubleheader meeting of the weekend, the No. 15 Franklin Pierce baseball teams secured another pair of triumphs over in-conference opponent Saint Michael's College on Sunday, winning by a walk-off score of 2-1 in game one and a 13-1 final in game two at Pappas Field.

With the wins, Pierce baseball secures the full sweep over the Purple Knights this weekend and improves to 16-4 (4-0 NE10) overall. Saint Michael's drops to 0-14 (0-4 NE10) with the losses.

GAME #1

The opening game of the afternoon was primarily a defensive battle between the two squads, with neither side plating any runs through the first three innings of play. However, in the bottom of the fourth, senior catcher Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) delivered the first run of the game for the Ravens by way of a solo homer to left-center field, his first of the season.

Following a scoreless fifth inning, Saint Michael's tied the game on their own solo shot over the fence in right field, fresh off the bat of freshman Sam Cavossa as the leadoff batter in the sixth. From there, things would remain a 1-1 stalemate through the seventh inning, which would then force the game to be decided in extra innings based on the doubleheader rule.

Through the eighth and ninth innings, the Raven defense would rally behind the strong pitching of graduate Brian Hadden (Newburyport, Mass.), who retired both sides in one-two-three fashion with a combined four strikeouts. In the bottom of the ninth, with two outs, sophomore Connor Smalley (West Sayville, N.Y.) delivered the game-winner for the Ravens after legging-out a hard groundball towards shallow center field, beating the throw by the Saint Michael's shortstop to plate Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.) from second.

In his fifth start of the season, junior righthander Hunter Reynolds (Marlborough, Mass.) was solid on the mound for the Ravens, keeping the Purple Knights scoreless through four innings with three hits allowed and six strikeouts. In relief, freshman Drew DeLucia (Medway, Mass.) tossed three innings with one run allowed on one hit, striking out five batters along the way before swapping out for graduate Brian Hadden. Through the final two innings, Hadden then earned the victory for Pierce with no hits allowed and four strikeouts.

GAME #2

The Ravens returned to their scoring ways early in the second contest, opening the first two innings with a 7-1 advantage over the Purple Knights. To start off, freshman Joey Acker (Upton, Mass.) plated the game's first run on a RBI single to the shortstop, eventually advancing to second on a throwing error by the Saint Michael's second baseman. Two batters later, Acker was then scored on a sacrifice fly-out to right field by Jose Savinon (Brooklyn, N.Y.), making it 2-0 Pierce.

The clinic continued with another five runs scored in the bottom of the second inning, which was highlighted by a three-RBI triple to the gap in right center by Ian Battipaglia with the bases loaded. Saint Michael's was able to snag one run in the top half of the inning, but would fail to score beyond that the rest of the way.

The Ravens would advance their lead by another six runs in the fourth inning, once again taking advantage of loaded bases. The first two runs would make their way across home plate via a Julien Monks (Cambridge, Mass.) double to right field, which then prompted a pitching change by the visitors. However, the Ravens spoiled the intro for the new man on the mound, and delivered the final four runs on back-to-back home runs to right field. The first, which was his second of the day, was off the bat of Jake Miller, while the other belonged to senior catcher Max Gebauer (Guilderland, N.Y.) as a solo-shot.

Both teams would finish the game scoreless through three innings, with Pierce decisively claiming the win by a 13-1 margin to close out the weekend.

Senior righthander Danny Gracia (Wilmington, Mass.) picked up his first win of the season (1-1) for Franklin Pierce, striking out five batters with no walks and one run allowed off six hits. Juniors Sean Foody (Tappan, N.Y.) and Hunter Wilichoski (Hamilton, Mass.), as well as sophomore Esteban Rivera III (Hamden, Conn.) each saw a full inning of relief work, denying the Purple Knights any runs in the process.

Baseball kicks-off a twelve-game road trip with a weekend series at Le Moyne College (11-11), opening on Friday, March 31^st with a twin bill at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.