RINDGE, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team picked up a 9-4 victory over in-state rival (and nationally-ranked) Franklin Pierce University on Wednesday at Pappas Field.
The Hawks snap a 17-game losing streak to the Ravens, improving to 6-7 overall on the year while the Ravens, ranked No. 23 in NCAA Division II according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association national poll, fall to 9-3 on the season.
Saint Anselm had most recently downed Franklin Pierce, then ranked No. 26 by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, on Mar. 27, 2014, collecting an 11-10 victory in the process in what was the program's last victory over a nationally-ranked opponent. The five-run win was the largest by the Hawks over the Ravens since May 2, 2012, a 10-5 win over No. 15 Franklin Pierce in the regular-season finale.
Junior
Kyle Maurice (Exeter, N.H.) slugged a two-run home run off the right field pole in the top of the first, taking advantage of an early fielding miscue by the Ravens on the way to a 2-0 lead. The Hawks tacked on three more in the top of the third as a two-run ground-rule double by junior
Mike Pierro (North Andover, Mass.) preceded an RBI single by Maurice.
The Ravens pushed across the game's next four runs with a third inning RBI triple and a three-run, three-hit inning in the home half of the fifth inning. Franklin Pierce finished the game with just seven hits –
James Boria,
Ryan Lavelle and
Joel Lara had two hits each while the rest of the lineup combined to go 1-for-23.
The Hawks added insurance in the top of the eighth as sophomore
Brady Doran (Stony Brook, N.Y.) hit a two-run double to right center that was followed up by an RBI single from junior
Matt Collins (Beverly, Mass.).
One more run came around to score in the top of the ninth inning as a sacrifice fly by senior
Max Silverman (Westford, Mass.) drove in classmate
Salvatore Pezzolla (East Greenbush, N.Y.), who led off the ninth with a walk.
Pierro's hitting streak was extended to seven games with his big double. Additionally, Maurice and Pezzolla have now reached base safely in each of their team's 13 games on the year. Doran, Collins, Maurice and senior
Ben Horsfall (Westborough, Mass.) rounded out the strong offensive performances with two hits on the day.
Matthew Michel kept the Hawks in the game on the mound, firing seven innings while striking out seven batters to earn his second career victory. Freshman
Will Hunter (Middleton, Mass.) locked the game down for the Hawks in the eighth and ninth innings, yielding just one hit while fanning two Ravens batters.
Seven Franklin Pierce batters combined to walk seven Hawks, but the Ravens did strike out 15 on the evening.
Andres Auffant lasted just two-and-one-third innings, conceding three earned runs and Maurice's foul pole blast.
Saint Anselm returns to Northeast-10 Conference play with four games at Southern New Hampshire University, beginning with a doubleheader this Friday, Apr. 9 at 1 p.m.
