RINDGE, N.H. – The Saint Anselm baseball
team travelled to in-state rival Franklin Pierce University this
afternoon to take on the No. 16 Ravens in their first of two
meetings this season. The Hawks outhit the Ravens 9-8, but
two big offensive innings for the Ravens in the middle of the game
led to an 8-3 loss. With the win, the Ravens improve to 11-6
(1-0 NE-10), while the Hawks sink to 3-12 (1-4 NE-10).
Both starting pitchers, Neil Hesek (Northboro,
Mass.) for the Hawks and Jose Macias for
the Ravens, were perfect through the first three innings, retiring
each batter in order their first time through the lineup.
Macias kept up the perfect game through the top of the fourth, but
in the bottom of the inning, Mike Dowd broke the
offensive drought with a one-out double to right-center.
Mike Munoz walked behind him, and Isaac
Wenrich drove in Dowd with a ground-rule double down the
left-field line. Mike Augustine then hit a
two-RBI single to center field to put the Ravens up 3-0.
Nick LaCroix walked, and Phil
Hendricks scored Augustine on a single to the left
side. LaCroix and Hendricks pulled off a double steal to make
it second and third, and Dan Kemp drove in LaCroix
on a sacrifice fly to left field, for a score of 5-0 at the end of
the fourth.
Matt Stone (West Roxbury, Mass.) replaced
Matt Greeke (S. Hamilton, Mass.) as the designated
hitter in the top of the fifth inning, and got the Hawks'
first hit of the day with a one-out single to right field.
Consecutive singles by Daniel DeCoste (Chelmsford,
Mass.), TJ Murphy (Reading, Mass.) and
Mike Garczynski (Fort Myers, Fla.) drove in Stone,
but the next two batters struck out to leave the bases loaded and
only get one back after the Ravens' big inning.
Derek Ingui led off the bottom of the fifth
inning with a walk. Dowd got his second hit of the game, and
Munoz got on by a fielder's choice to load the bases with no
outs. Wenrich grounded to Steven Panza (Watertown,
Mass.) at second base, who threw out Ingui at the plate to
get the first out of the inning. Hesek struck out Augustine
for the second out, but consecutive two-out singles by LaCroix and
Hendricks led to three more runs for the Ravens, who took an 8-1
lead before the final out of the fifth.
Kyle Lavin (Shelton, Conn.) came in to pitch in
the bottom of the sixth inning. He hit the first batter, but
picked him off during the next at-bat. He surrendered a
couple of two-out walks, but held the Ravens scoreless.
He went 1-2-3 in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts, and after
giving up a leadoff single in the eighth, he retired his final
three batters in order to keep the Ravens from adding to their
score.
Down to their final three outs, the Hawks looked to stage a
comeback. Stone led off with a ground out to the pitcher, but
Eric Simm (Salem, N.H.) drew a pinch-hit walk to
get something started. Murphy made it first and second with a
single to center field, but Richie Manzi (Plymouth,
N.H.) struck out for the second out of the inning.
Rett Ostafin (Avon, Conn.) loaded the bases with a
walk, and Steven Panza drove in Simm with a single to the
pitcher. Joshua Lafond (Goffstown, N.H.)
then hit a second infield single to score Murphy and keep the bases
loaded. Robert Kelly (Rancho Santa Margarita,
Calif.) sought to keep the two-out rally going, hitting a
line drive to the left side, but shortstop Dan Kemp snagged it out
of the air for the final out of the game to give the Ravens an 8-3
victory.
Neil Hesek pitched five full innings for the Hawks, allowing all
eight runs on seven hits and three walks. Kyle Lavin then
pitched three shutout innings in relief, allowing just one hit and
striking out two. Jose Macias had a solid outing on the
mound, allowing just one run on six hits and a walk over eight full
innings and recording 13 strikeouts. Matt
Calcuit pitched to the first two batters in the ninth,
surrendering a walk and a run in a third of an inning; Sean
Keeler allowed three hits and a walk to the next five
batters, striking out Manzi, and Rob Blanc picked
up a one-batter save, forcing Kelly to line out and securing the
win.
The Hawks return to action tomorrow afternoon, when they host
the Ravens in a rematch at Sullivan Park beginning at
3:30 pm.
