Sophomore Dante Blancarte was named NE-10 Player of the Week as he led the Ravens to a 4-2 week as he batted .545 (12-22) with eight runs scored, three doubles, four homeruns and ten RBIs

Blancarte and Cavers Honored by NE-10
Blancarte named Conference Player of the Week
Cavers earns second Freshman of the Week honor of season

RINDGE, N.H. (April 29, 2002) - Franklin Pierce University
sophomore first baseman Dante Blancarte (Amesbury, Mass./Amesbury) and freshman catcher/designated hitter Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) earned Northeast-10 Conference weekly awards this afternoon by the Conference office.

Blancarte was named the NE-10 Baseball Player of the Week this afternoon. He led the Ravens to a 4-2 week as he batted .545 (12-22) with eight runs scored, three doubles, four homeruns and ten RBIs. Blancarte posted a 1.227 slugging percentage and .565 on-base percentage as he extended his team-best hitting streak to 14 games and homered in four-straight games last week (all FP
wins).

Blancarte started the week off with a two-for-three effort at the plate with a double and a run scored in a loss to Assumption College on Tuesday. In the Ravens win the next day against the Greyhounds, he batted 2-4 with three runs scored, a homerun and an RBI. Blancarte was a perfect 3-3 with a double, a homer and two RBIs in Friday’s game one win over Southern Connecticut State University and followed that with a game-tying solo homer in game two in the Ravens comeback win. In Saturday’s game one 23-6 win at Southern, Blancarte hit 3-5 with a double, a grand slam and five RBIs. The grand slam was his second of the season and fifth of his career at the College.

Blancarte leads the Ravens with a .359 (51-142) batting average, .662 slugging percentage, 11 homeruns (6th NE-10) and 42 RBIs (6th NE-10). He has also totaled 29 runs scored and ten doubles this spring. His career-best 11 homers is good for third on the school’s single-season list, just four shy of the school record, and his RBI total ranks eighth.

Freshman Eric Cavers earned NE-10 Freshman of the Week accolades for the second time this season as he batted .500 (10-20) with two runs scored, three doubles and four RBIs in six games last week.

Cavers earned NE-10 Freshman of the Week accolades for the second time this season as he batted .500 (10-20) with two runs scored, three doubles and four RBIs in six games last week. He also posted a .650 slugging percentage and extended his current hitting streak to seven games.

Cavers started the week by hitting 2-3 with a double and an RBI in FPC’s loss to Assumption. He hit 1-2 with a sacrifice fly in the Ravens game one win over Southern Connecticut on Friday, then was 2-2 in the nightcap. Cavers helped spark FPC’s 23-6 win at Southern on Saturday with a 3-6 effort, two doubles, a run scored and two RBIs, then hit 1-2 in the nightcap. Cavers is hitting .315 (41-130) for the Ravens this season with 31 runs scored, eight doubles, four homeruns and 23 RBIs. His 13 stolen bases on 16 attempts leads the team.

FP
(23-16, 16-10 NE-10) is back in the midst of the Northeast-10 playoff chase and are currently tied with Southern Connecticut (28-13, 16-10 NE-10) for third place (but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning three-of-four from the Owls over the weekend) and are just two games behind College of Saint Rose (28-17, 17-8 NE-10) in the loss column for second and four behind Markey Division-leading Bryant College (30-15, 20-6 NE-10).

Franklin Pierce rounds out its regular season schedule this week beginning at Assumption tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. The Ravens return home on Wednesday to host Pepin Division-leading UMass Lowell at 3 p.m., before opening a four-game weekend series with American International College at Crystal Field on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.