SYRACUSE, N.Y. (4/2/23) – It was a tough start to a four-game road trip against NE10 foe Le Moyne College on Sunday afternoon, as the No. 12 Franklin Pierce baseball team dropped both decisions of the day-one doubleheader by 11-8 and 3-0 scores.

With the losses, Pierce falls back to 16-6 (4-0 NE10) on the season, while the Dolphins improve to 13-11 (0-0 NE10) overall.

GAME #1

The Ravens got it started early as Dolphin's pitching struggles to locate the strike zone, loading the bases with three consecutive walks. This then brought up sophomore Jose Savinon (Brooklyn, N.Y.) who drove the ball through the right side of the infield, scored two RBI with the single while advancing a runner to third. The runner, who happened to be junior Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.), then made his way home to score on the Le Moyne wild pitch, giving the Ravens an early 3-0 edge. However, with two outs in the inning, senior catcher Max Gebauer (Guilderland, N.Y.) hit a grounder to the Dolphin shortstop, who then committed a throwing error which brought home both Savinon and Julien Monks (Cambridge, Mass.) to make it a 5-run first inning for the Ravens.  

Senior Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.) led off the second inning for the Ravens with a walk, and then included his second stolen base of the game to place himself in scoring position, eventually making it all the way to third with one out. With Battipaglia at the plate, another wild pitch by the Dolphins would escort Lara home to bring the score to 6-0 in favor of the visitors. Then, in the top of the, senior Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) extended the lead by one with an RBI double, stretching it out to a 7-0 contest. However,  in the bottom half of the inning, graduate Drew Carrol would break the ice for the Dolphins with an RBI double to right-center field, scoring Lukas Egenhauser from second to make it a 7-1 ball game.   

After a leadoff walk to begin the bottom of the fourth, the Dolphins began to chip away at the Raven lead as sophomore Wyatt Patchett got behind the ball and belted a two-run homer over the left field fence, cutting the lead to 7-3. The damage would only continue following a second walk in the inning, which would put a scoring run in place for a single by Brady Fureno, making it 7-4.

In the fifth inning, the Ravens would manage to steal a run back following a Le Moyne fielding error in left which allowed Julien Monks to cross the home plate to give Pierce their eighth run of the game. But yet again, the Dolphins continued to rake in the runs as Wyatt Patchett delivered his third RBI of the contest with a single to right, once again cutting into the Raven lead, 8-5 in the bottom half of the fifth.  Shortly thereafter, with the bases loaded and two outs, Lukas Egenhauser ripped a ball down the right field line that scored another pair of runs to pull Le Moyne to within one.  two runs to pull the Dolphins within one. Following a Pierce pitching change, the equalizer run for the Dolphins would come by way of a Raven balk.

In the sixth inning, senior Zach Brush secured the go-ahead run for Le Moyne by cracking a double down the left field line, scoring the runner at second. To make matters worse, Patchett returned to the plate and hammered his second homer of the game in the very next at-bat to clear the bases, giving the Dolphins their eventual 11-8 winning score.

After earning the start, Kyle Roche (Braintree, Mass.) tossed through 4.2 innings while allowing 7 earned runs on nine hits, with three walks and six strikeouts. In relief, Drew DeLucia (Medway, Mass.) claimed the loss for the Ravens with three earned runs allowed on two hits, walking two batters.

GAME #2

After falling off in game one, the Franklin Pierce bats went ice cold in the afternoon's closer as the Ravens managed just 2 hits from Ian Battipagia and Jose Savinon through seven innings.

From the start, the Ravens had a tough time getting runners on base, with only four scoring opportunities throughout the entire game. In the first inning, Ian Battipaglia would double down the left field line and then advance to third on a wild pitch, giving Pierce an early shot with two outs. However, Savinon would strike out swinging to end the inning before any damage could be dealt.  

After the Ravens rocky start to the game, the Dolphins exploded early in the bottom half of the first with three runs scored, beginning with a Dewey Roden RBI double down the left field line to open the scoring. Freshman Brody Keneston then followed it up with his own RBI double to left-center field, making it a 2-0 Dolphin lead. Sophomore Wyatt Patchett then capped off the inning with an RBI double to the same spot in left-center rounding out the scoring at 3-0 Le Moyne.

The only other real scoring threat from the Ravens came in the top of the 4^th inning. At the plate, Jose Savinon delivered just the second hit of the game for the Ravens by doubling to left-center field with two outs. However, the threat would be nullified after sophomore Connor Smalley (West Sayville, N.Y.) went down looking to end the inning. The Ravens would then be held hitless for the final three innings, placing just one runner on base on a walk drawn by Max Gebauer.

Despite earning the loss, Chaz Powell (Stamford, Conn.) tossed through the full six innings for Pierce,  allowing three earned runs on six opponent hits, walking two and striking out three. Le Moyne starter Max Parker stole the show on the mound for the Dolphins, tossing a complete game with just two hits allowed, one walk, and eight total strikeouts.  

The Ravens have one more bout with the Dolphins in Syracuse, N.Y. for a series-closing doubleheader on Monday afternoon, with first pitch of the twin bill set for 12:00 p.m., and game two beginning at 3:00  p.m.