Sophomore Matt Weagle earned his third straight win of the season as he tossed a complete-game three hitter

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Opens Key Week with 8-3 Win Over Assumption
Weagle pitches Ravens to win as he earns third-straight victory

SMITHFIELD, R.I. (April 26, 2002) - Franklin Pierce University
opened its final week of the regular season with an 8-3 win over Assumption College at the Bryant College Baseball Complex this afternoon. The game was moved to Bryant as both schools fields were unplayable due to the rain over the last two days.

Sophomore right-hander Matt Weagle (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) earned his third straight win of the season (3-5) as he tossed a complete-game three hitter. Weagle surrendered just three runs, two earned, on the three hits with a career-high 15 strikeouts and two walks.

Sophomore Dante Blancarte extended his current hitting streak to a team season-high 15 games as he finished 2-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base

Freshman third baseman Bear Dunn (Charlton, Mass./Shepherd Hill) sparked the offense as he hit two-for-three with a double and an RBI. Sophomore first baseman Dante Blancarte (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) extended his current hitting streak to a team season-high 15 games as he finished 2-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base. Junior second baseman Mike Callahan (Worcester, Mass./St. Peter Marian) was 2-5 with a run scored and two RBIs.

Senior Corey Phillips suffered the loss despite striking out 11 FP
batters on the day. He yielded eight earned runs on ten hits with two walks in the complete game effort.

Sophomore Tim Caouette laced a triple and freshman Neil Harrington belted a two-run homerun to provide the bulk of the Assumption offense.

Freshman Bear Dunn hit two-for-three with a double and an RBI

Franklin Pierce took control with six runs in the third inning. Junior Chris Shank (Westminster, Mass./Oakmont Regional) lined an RBI single, followed by a two-run safety by Callahan. Dunn added an RBI double and senior Eric Burney (Rockville, Conn./Rockville) capped the rally with an RBI groundout.

Harrington belted his two-run homer in the fourth and then the Greyhounds scored a single run in the fifth to close the gap to 6-3.

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answered with a single run in the seventh on an RBI single from freshman Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) and another run on a run-scoring single from junior Paul McAuliffe (Foxboro, Mass./Foxboro) in the eighth for some insurance.

With today’s win, the Ravens still remain tied with Southern Connecticut State University for the third and final NE-10 Markey Division playoff spot (although they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Owls), but moved to within a game in the loss column behind College of Saint Rose as SCSU posted a 9-6 win over Saint Rose in New Haven, Conn., this afternoon.

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(24-16, 17-10 NE-10) hosts UMass Lowell tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Assumption (8-29, 5-22 NE-10) hosts the University of New Haven on Friday.

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
FPC	0	0	6	0	0	0	1	1	0	8	10	2
AC	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	3	3	2

Batteries:
FPC: Matt Weagle and Eric Cavers.
AC: Corey Phillips and Tim Caouette.

WP: Weagle (3-5)
LP: Phillips (3-5)