Baseball America RINDGE, N.H. (February 6, 2008) – Baseball America has predicted the Franklin Pierce University baseball team will finish as NCAA Division II runners up this spring in the national publication’s college preview issue released recently. Franklin Pierce, ranked fifth in this week’s Ping!baseball.com Division II poll as well as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA) Division II preseason poll and seventh in the Collegiate Baseball magazine preseason poll, returns 19 letter winners from last year’s team that advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships in Montgomery, Ala., for the second-straight season and third time in five years. Six of those 19 returning players are starting position players for the Ravens, while they also return all but one pitcher who saw regular turns in the starting rotation a year ago. The Ravens are ranked by Baseball America behind two-time defending National Champion University of Tampa and ahead of Florida Southern University, Columbus State (Ga.) University and Mount Olive (N.C.) University. Franklin Pierce, with Head Coach Jayson King (286-158-1, .644) entering his tenth year at the helm, is coming off a program-record 49-11 season in which the Ravens also captured both the Northeast-10 Conference regular season (26-4) and tournament championships in the same season for the first time in program history.
Junior shortstop Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) was also recognized by Baseball America as a preseason All-American and rated the No. 4-ranked prospect in Division II. Savastano, a 28th round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians last June, has opted to return for his junior season after an injury in Franklin Pierce’s season-opener limited him to 19 games in 2007. He played the final 18 games of the season and hit .357 (25-70) with 11 runs scored, three doubles, a triple, home run and 14 RBI in the shortened campaign. Savastano, the 2006 Northeast-10 Conference Freshman of the Year, has posted a .387 (106-274) career batting average, with 57 runs scored, 16 doubles, six triples, five home runs and 51 RBI in 75 games played in his two-year career at the University. He was also an NCBWA All-Region and All-Northeast-10 second team pick as a freshman and has earned All-Tournament team honors at the NCAA Division II Northeast Regional. Savastano, also a 33rd round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2005, earned New England Collegiate Baseball League’s (NECBL) Most Improved Player honors last summer after a strong season with the Pittsfield (Mass.) Dukes. He led the Dukes with a .348 (32-for-92) batting average in 24 games, adding 12 runs scored, six doubles, a triple, home run, three stolen bases and 17 RBI after joining the squad in midseason. Franklin Pierce is scheduled to open its 2008 season on March 1-2 when it travels to fellow NCAA Tournament participant Wilmington (Del.) College for a three-game weekend series. The Ravens are scheduled to open at Dr. Arthur & Martha Pappas Field on March 27 against rival Southern Connecticut State University at 3:30 p.m. |
