#1
Tampa Rallies Past TAMPA,
Fla. (March 21, 2006) –
Top-ranked University of Tampa rallied with four runs over the final
two innings, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth on a
throwing error, to post a 9-8 victory over Franklin Pierce, ranked No.
7 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball magazine Division II
poll, in a battle of the two hottest teams in Division II baseball at
UT Baseball Field tonight.
Tampa, ranked No. 1 in both major Division II polls, entered
the game winners of a school-record 20-straight, while Franklin
Pierce, also ranked 9th in the National Collegiate Baseball
Writers of America (NCBWA) Division II poll, had matched its program
record with 12-straight wins and was off to a 12-1 start for the first
time in program history.
Tampa’s nine runs came on just six hits as they took
advantage of ten walks from Franklin Pierce pitching with the winning
run coming off the Ravens lone error of the night. Franklin Pierce,
meanwhile banged out 12 hits (its 13th-straight game with
double-figure hits), but perhaps let the Spartans off the hook a
couple times as all eight runs were earned despite four Tampa errors. “Overall our pitching didn’t give us a chance to win tonight,” said Head Coach Jayson King. “You can’t have a bunch of walks against good teams, we needed to challenge their hitters more.”
Junior
Troy Ferguson (Rochester, Mass.) led the Tampa offense
as he hit 2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored.
Junior Roberto Mena (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico) was 2-4
with a double, RBI and run scored, while senior Omar Rosales
(Dade City, Fla.) was 2-4 with a double and run scored.
Senior Aaron Cook (Rockledge, Fla.) picked up the
win (2-1), retiring the only two batters he faced in the top of the
ninth. The Spartans also got solid relief from senior Nick
Peterson (Tampa, Fla.), a transfer from Appalachian State, who
yielded just two hits with four strikeouts in three scoreless innings
of work. Tampa’s bullpen allowed just two hits over the final six
innings.
“Peterson was the key for them,” said King. “He came in
and did a really nice job challenging our hitters and allowed them to
get back in the game.”
Senior All-American Bryan Duplissie (East Swanzey, N.H./Monadnock
Regional) led the Franklin Pierce offensive attack as he was
2-for-5 with a pair of home runs and four RBI. Junior Vinny
Pennell (Spencer, Mass./David Prouty) was a perfect 3-3 at the
plate with a walk, stolen base and run scored, while senior Randy
Fenton (Worcester, Mass./Doherty) was 2-4, extending his
current hitting streak to 11 games, with a homer and two RBI. Junior Kim
Hart (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) finished 2-5 with a run scored,
while senior Elliott Shea (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant) matched
a school record for the second time on the Ravens spring trip with
three stolen bases and also extended his hitting streak to 11 games. “Our offense did well tonight,” said King. “We scored eight runs against some good pitching and for the most part played a clean game in the field. We had some chances later in the game and probably could have used a couple more timely hits, but in the end our walks cost us.”
Junior
Eric Grabowski (Worcester, Mass./David Prouty), who
earned a complete game win at top-ranked Tampa last year, lasted just
2.2 innings tonight as he was touched for five earned runs by walking
seven and allowing two hits with three strikeouts.
Senior Mike Farrell (Russell, Mass./Gateway Regional)
wound up allowing three earned runs on just two hits and three walks
with two strikeouts in five innings. Farrell faced the minimum,
walking just one, over his first 4.1 innings of work, but Rosales led
off the eighth with a double off the wall in left. Farrell walked two
of the next three batters to load the bases, and then allowed Rosales
to score on a balk. Senior J.R. Hopf (Tampa, Fla.) drove
in a second run while grounding out to first, before Mena doubled down
the line in left to knot the score. Sophomore Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./Milford), a transfer from Tampa, was pinned with the loss (0-1), allowing the one unearned run on two hits with a strikeout in two thirds of an inning. He retired the only batter he faced in the bottom of the eighth and got a strikeout with Ferguson on first with a leadoff single in the ninth. Rosales followed with a single in the gap and Ferguson came around with the winning run when shortstop Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) threw the relay to third into the stands.
Franklin
Pierce jumped on the board with six runs in the top of the first
inning, marking the fifth-straight game and 12th time in 14
games this season the Ravens have scored in their first at bat. Olson
led off with a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After
senior Mike Chambers (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) was
hit by a pitch, Duplissie belted a three-run homer to left to open the
scoring. Hart and Pennell followed with singles before freshman Scott
Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) roped a two-run
double down the line in left. Fenton rounded out the scoring with an
RBI single.
Duplissie hit his second homer (5th of the season)
in as many innings in the second, but Tampa struck for four in the
home half of the frame after Grabowski retired the first two batters
of the inning. Two walks and a Mena single set the stage for Ferguson,
who pulled the Spartans within three runs with a grand slam to right
center.
Fenton hit his second homer of the season in the third for
Franklin Pierce, but Tampa got that run back in the bottom of the
inning without the benefit of a hit. Grabowski walked the bases loaded
with two out before getting lifted for Farrell, who allowed a run
score with a wild pitch.
The Ravens had runners in scoring position in the sixth,
seventh, eighth and ninth, but could not push any of them across,
finishing the night with nine runners left on base. Franklin Pierce (12-2, 0-0 NE-10) is back in action tomorrow when it travels to the east coast to face Florida Institute of Technology, ranked eighth in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II South Regional poll, at 3 p.m. Tampa (23-3, 6-0 SSC) opens a key Sunshine State Conference series with No. 22 Florida Southern College on Friday at 1:30 p.m. |
