WALTHAM, Mass. (4/7/23) – The No. 22 Franklin Pierce baseball team split a pair of decisions with Bentley University in a Northeast-10 Conference baseball doubleheader at DeFelice Field on Friday afternoon, beginning the day with a 7-6 victory and finishing with a 4-0 loss to the Falcons.

With the split, the Ravens are now 17-9 (5-2 NE10) this season, while the Falcons move to 13-10 (5-5 NE10) overall.

GAME #1

Bentley kicked off the scoring in the opening contest with a pair of solo home runs by senior Tim Zupkus and junior Joe Cacciatore in the bottom of the second inning. The Ravens would retaliate with a four-run top of the third, beginning with an RBI triple to left center field by senior outfielder Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.). Two batters later, Lara then crossed the plate off a Joseph Pesce (Lake Mary, Fla.) reach on a fielder's choice, tying the score at 2-2. Then, with two outs in the frame, a double steal delivered Pesce across the plate from third just before senior Jake Miller (Waltham, Mass.) plated the final run of the inning on a RBI single to right field, giving the Ravens a 4-2 advantage.

The scoring would not pick back up until the top of the fifth, where Pierce furthered their lead by two more runs. With Lara stationed at first from a lead-off walk, junior Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.) picked his spot in right-center field and connected for an RBI double, eventually moving himself to third on a steal directly afterward. Junior Hunter Wilichoski (Hamilton, Mass.) then wasted no time with Battipaglia in position, and scored the run with a sacrifice fly-out to left field to make it 6-2 in favor of the guests.

As the result of a Pierce fielding error, Bentley would cut the Raven lead down to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth by scoring freshman Tommy Bolton. After a scoreless sixth inning, the Ravens answered by scoring an insurance run of their own to claim a 7-3 edge in the top of the seventh, with Lara making his way across home plate for the second time on the day on a sacrifice ground-out to the shortstop by Joseph Pesce. Pierce would then hold the hosts scoreless through the next two innings, before running into a late roadblock in the ninth.

The Falcons put up a fight in the end and made it a one-run game by scoring a trio of runs on four hits in the final frame. Eddy Beauregard posted a two-run double, while Steve Rizzuto reeled in two RBI on a single to right-center. However, in the end, the Ravens would hold down the fort and escape with the close, one-run triumph.

Franklin Pierce starter Kyle Roche (Braintree, Mass.) earned the win (5-0) after yielding three runs off four hits and five walks, striking out seven through five innings of work. Freshman reliever Drew Delucia (Medway, Mass.) gave up three runs on five hits through 3.2 frames, while graduate Brian Hadden (Newburyport, Mass.) finished the job in the final inning.

GAME #2

The Franklin Pierce bats would grow cold in the afternoon closer, as they would only secure three total hits through all seven innings. On the Bentley side, three of their four runs scored in the effort would arrive in the bottom of the second inning, starting with an RBI double to left-center by Tim Zupkus. The Falcons then proceeded to score another pair of runs off consecutive scoring connections, when Joe Cacciatore and graduate Liam Sears each notched RBI drives to make it a 3-0 game through two innings played.

As things went quiet midway through the action, Bentley returned and extended their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI single by junior Tyler Gonzalez. Prior to that in the top half, the Ravens saw their best chance to break the silence with senior Max Gebauer (Guilderland, N.Y.) and Joel Lara at second and first respectively, but could not plate any runs with two outs already in the at-bat.

Bentley would ultimately continue to hold Pierce scoreless the rest of the way, bouncing back with a 4-0 win to salvage the split against the Ravens.

Junior right-hander Chaz Powell (Stamford, Conn.) took the loss (4-2) for the Ravens, surrendering four runs on six hits and two walks with one strikeout over five innings. Freshman Tommy Sullivan (Plymouth, Mass.) tossed one full inning of relief work, walking one batter.

The Easter weekend series between the Ravens and Falcons continues tomorrow afternoon (4/8) for a Saturday twin bill beginning at 12:00 and 3:00 p.m.