Franklin
Pierce Coasts Past MANCHESTER,
N.H. (April 21, 2004) –
Franklin Pierce, ranked sixth in this week’s National Collegiate
Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Northeast Region poll,
scored 15 runs over the first five innings and coasted to a 16-6 victory
over Southern New Hampshire University at Penmen Field this afternoon. Franklin Pierce, which extended its program record winning streak to eight, matched a season-high with 16 hits – 12 over the first five innings in building up a 15-4 lead. Freshman Kim Hart (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) led the Ravens as he finished 3-for-5 with a double, his first career home-run and a season-best four RBI. Classmate Vinny Pennell (Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) was also 3-5 with a double, stolen base, two runs scored and three RBI. Junior Eric Cavers (Otisfield, Maine/Oxford Hills) finished 2-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBI, while freshman Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) was 2-4 with a double, RBI and steal.
Freshman
right-hander Neil Cacciola (North Andover, Mass./Wakefield)
picked up the win in relief (2-2), allowing two runs, one earned, on
just one hit with five strikeouts and a walk in four innings of work.
Classmate Stephen Minor (Worcester, Mass./Holy Name) went
the first four in his first collegiate start and yielded three runs, two
earned, on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Senior Ron Demers (Berlin, N.H./Berlin) led
Southern New Hampshire, as he was 2-5 with two RBI. Classmate Jason
Woodward (Mystic, Conn./Stonington) hit 2-4 with a run scored,
while junior Chris Hart (Waterville, Maine/Waterville)
finished 1-3 and scored a run.
Sophomore Joe Johnson (Pelham, N.H./UMass Lowell)
suffered the loss (1-6), as he was touched for seven earned runs on
eight hits and four walks with four strikeouts in three-plus innings of
work.
Franklin Pierce struck early as sophomore Elliott Shea
(Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) smacked a solo home run down the
leftfield line in a two-run first. The Ravens scored a run in the second
on back-to-back doubles by Pennell and Cavers and two in the third as
Olson was hit by a pitch for the 13th time this season
followed by Hart’s first career home run.
The Ravens added two more in the fourth, sparked by a two-run
single up the middle by Pennell with two out, then busted the game open
with a seven-run fifth as they sent 11 batters to the plate. Cavers and
Hart both belted two-run doubles in the game-breaking frame.
SNHU scored two runs in the fourth and fifth with the benefit of
just one hit, an RBI single up the middle by Demers in the fifth and
trailed just 8-3 heading into the fifth. Franklin Pierce (21-16, 16-4 NE-10) and Southern New Hampshire (15-16, 8-13 NE-10) round out their three-game midweek series tomorrow afternoon in Rindge at 3:30 p.m. |
