RINDGE, N.H. (5/9/23) – On a cool Tuesday evening at Pappas Field, the bats got hot at the right time for the Northeast Division's No. 2 seed Franklin Pierce University, who advanced to the NE10 Baseball Championship second round with an 11-2 quarterfinal win over No. 3 American International College.

Even as the introductory game to the NE10 postseason, it was the fifth meeting in five days between the Ravens and Yellow Jackets. With the win, the Ravens push onward with a 31-15 () overall record, while the Yellow Jackets close the cover on the 2023 season with a 23-24 (13-11 NE10) mark following the loss.

It was a casual start to the game as both teams traded single runs in the first two innings. The Ravens opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI base hit into right field by graduate Brian Hadden (Newburyport, Mass.), which scored lead baserunner Joseph Pesce (Lake Mary, Fla.) from second. AIC then drew even in the top of the second on a similar two-out single, this time to left-center field, from catcher Tyler Ziemak.

Beginning in the bottom of the third, the Ravens would pelt AIC with a combined eight runs scored across a three inning span to climb ahead 9-2. The first batch of runs would arrive via a score on a passed ball by senior Joel Lara (Boston, Mass.) from third and a RBI single to right-center by freshman Joey Acker (Upton, Mass.). In response to an AIC score in the top of the fourth, Pierce would add another pair on an RBI double from junior Hunter Paquette (North Walpole, N.H.) and a sacrifice fly-out to right field by Ian Battipaglia (Cheshire, Conn.), which scored Paquette. The real damage would be dealt in the fifth inning as senior Max Gebauer (Guilderland, N.Y.) kicked off a four-run frame with a base hit to left that brought home fellow senior Jose Savinon (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Then, with two outs, Paquette returned to the plate with a two-run double down the left field line, bringing his RBI game total to three. Battipaglia would cap it all off with a double to left center, once again scoring Paquette.

With the game already well out of reach, two scoreless innings only made things harder for the Yellow Jackets entering the eighth inning, where Pierce would strike twice more to extend the lead to 11-2. Both runs would cross home plate via RBI singles up the middle from Jose Savinon and Joseph Pesce, and would prove to be enough to send the Ravens into the next round of the tournament.

Freshman Drew DeLucia (Medway, Mass.) got the nod for his first playoff start on the mound, where he battled through 4.1 innings with two runs allowed on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Junior Tyler McDonald (Haverhill, Mass.) helped out with 3.2 innings of relief work, also fanning six with one hit allowed. The deal would be sealed in the final inning by Esteban Rivera III (Hamden, Conn.), who struck out one with no runs allowed on two hits.

Pierce baseball will now face the Southwest Division's top-seed, Le Moyne College to open Championship Weekend in Syracuse, New York this coming Thursday, May 11^th with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.