Box Score
RINDGE, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of #2 Franklin Pierce University on Friday afternoon at Pappas Field in Rindge, N.H.
The Hawks had their three game winning-streak snapped to drop to 6-14 overall, 2-2 in the NE-10, and 2-2 in the NE-10 Northeast. The Ravens, who won their 12th-straight, improve to 25-2, 7-0 NE-10, and 5-0 in the NE-10 Northeast Divison.
Tom Hudon (Merrimack, N.H.) had a strong outing on the mound for Saint Anselm as he last seven innings and scattered seven hits while allowing only three runs (one earned) with four strikeouts. Seve Llanio (Glen Arm, Md.) pitched the eighth inning and allowed only two hits, while Allan McQuarrie (Salem, N.H.) threw out a pair of runners in the inning.
Hudon was out-dueled by Franklin Pierce's Paul Covelle, who pitched 8.1 innings and gave up one unearned run on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
Franklin Pierce struck first in the bottom of the second as Chris LaVorgna led off the inning with a single to centerfield. After an out, Tom Hudon had LaVorgna picked off first base, but the throw from Nick Bragole (Newburyport, Mass.) to second base got away, allowing the runner to reach second. LaVorgna eventually came around to score on an RBI groundout by Max DiTondo before Matt O'Herron followed with a homerun down the leftfield line that gave the Ravens a 2-0 lead after two innings.
The Hawks had runners on base throughout the first four innings of play as Paul Trabucco (Salem, N.H.), Shaine Carpenter (Florham Park, N.J.) and Ken Morrisino (East Longmeadow, Mass.) had hits in the first, second and fourth innings, respectively, while Sean Doherty (Haverhill, Mass.) reached on a walk in the third. However, the Hawks could not push a run across to cut into the deficit.
Franklin Pierce tacked on one more run in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Justin Brock to take a 3-0 lead.
The Saint Anselm bats went quiet from the fifth inning until Jon McQuarrie (Salem, N.H.) worked a two-out walk in the top of the eighth. Jonathan Pierce (Methuen, Mass.) pinch hit for John Marculitis (Shrewsbury, Mass.), but was called out on strikes looking to end the threat.
Saint Anselm made a late push as Sean Doherty hit a ground-rule double in the top of the ninth and came around to score when Ken Morrisino forced a bad throw to first on a groundball, leading to an error and allowing Doherty to scoot home and make it a 3-1 game. Paul Trabucco followed with a single through the right side that chased Covelle and put runners on the corners with only one out.
Covelle was replaced by Tanner Bird and the senior got the final two outs of the inning to close out the game and earn his third save of the season.
Trabucco ended the day going 2-for-4 while Sean Doherty was 1-for-3 with a run scored. Ken Morrisino and Shaine Carpenter each went 1-for-4.
The Hawks are right back in action tomorrow afternoon when they host Le Moyne College in a Northeast-10 Conference doubleheader starting at 12 p.m.
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