RINDGE, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team slugged six home runs in a doubleheader split with regionally-ranked Franklin Pierce University on Friday.
The Hawks posted an 11-6 win in game one before falling in game two by a 21-2 score. Saint Anselm is now 14-18 on the season and 7-7 in Northeast-10 Conference Northeast Division play. The Ravens move to 17-9 overall and 6-4 in conference games. The teams are scheduled to conclude their four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 16 with game one slated for a 10 a.m. start.
With the win in game one, the Hawks snapped a 17-game winning streak by the Ravens in the all-time series.
Senior
Kyle Maurice (Exeter, N.H.) led the Hawks offense, batting four-for-six with two walks, one run batted in, and three runs scored. Maurice extended his hitting streak to 13 games which is the second longest by a Saint Anselm student-athlete this season.
Senior
Mike Pierro (North Andover, Mass.) tied the team lead with four hits on the day while junior
Mike Borrelli (Salisbury, Mass.) registered three hits. Graduate student
Salvatore Pezzolla (East Greenbush, N.Y.) drove in four runs for the Hawks.
Freshman
Adam Betty (Lowell, Mass.) improved to 3-3 on the season after allowing four runs on eight hits in five innings of work in the game one win. Sophomore
Will Hunter (Middleton, Mass.) recorded a four-inning save, conceding two runs on three hits.
Junior
John Donovan (Lowell, Mass.) suffered the loss in game two with senior
Andy Grygorcewicz (Northampton, Mass.), freshman
Roman Ercoli (Concord, Mass.), senior
Danny Smucker (Cornwall, N.Y.), and juniors
Mark Monahan (Quincy, Mass.) and
Travis MacMurdo (Tewksbury, Mass.) closing the contest in relief.
GAME ONE: Saint Anselm 11, Franklin Pierce 6
Franklin Pierce registered a pair of hits in the bottom of the first inning but both runners were stranded on base as Betty got a strikeout swinging to close the first inning.
Maurice opened the scoring with his eighth home run of the season, taking the first pitch of the top of the second over the left center field wall. Borrelli followed with a single setting up a two-run home run by sophomore
Nolan Elmore (Brentwood, N.H.). Pierro reached on an error and advanced to second on the throw which was followed by a RBI single for junior
Brady Doran (Greenville, S.C.) who plated Pierro, giving Saint Anselm a 4-0 lead headed to the bottom of the second.
Franklin Pierce put runners on first and second following a pair of walks with both runners advancing on a wild pitch.
Graham Smith singled to score
Jose Savinon before
Joel Lara recorded another single to plate
Ryan Lavelle. A groundout by
Ian Battipaglia scored a third run in the inning for the Ravens, pushing the score to 4-3 through two innings of play.
The Ravens knotted the score in the bottom of the fourth inning as
Randy Flores doubled with two outs before scoring on a double by Battipaglia.
Saint Anselm regained the lead in the top of the fifth on a single by Pierro, who scored Maurice. Maurice registered a one-out walk before Borrelli notched a single to put runners on first and second.
The Hawks sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs in the top of the sixth. Senior
Daniel Baker (Reading, Mass.) recorded a leadoff single before senior
Matt Collins (Beverly, Mass.) walked. After a strikeout, Pezzolla drove his second homer of the season over the right center field fence. Maurice continued the momentum with a double before Borrelli was hit by a pitch. Maurice would steal third and score on a throwing error before Pierro added the second homer of the inning to cap the Hawks scoring at 11-4.
Franklin Pierce added two runs in the bottom of the seventh as a leadoff walk set up
Hunter Wilichoski who doubled to score one run. Wilichoski later scored in the inning on double which made the score 11-6. Between the final two innings, Hunter allowed just one runner to reach base while striking out three to pick up the save.
GAME TWO: Franklin Pierce 21, Saint Anselm 2
Borrelli opened the scoring in game two, launching his first homer of the day and fifth for the Hawks between both games of the doubleheader.
However, the Ravens would score five times in the bottom of the second and
Charles Lebron doubled to score Savinon who led off the inning with a single. After another single and a hit by pitch, Flores hit a grand slam to give the hosts a 6-1 lead.
Franklin Pierce tacked on seven more runs in the bottom of the third as a hit by pitch and two walks loaded the bases for Lavelle who drove in one run with a single. Lara followed the RBI single with the second grand slam of the game. A solo home run by Battipaglia and a double plated two more runs to give the Ravens a 13-1 lead.
The Ravens scored six more runs in the bottom of the fourth. A pair of walks put runners on base before four consecutive hits, capped by a three-run homer by Wilichoski pushed the score to 19-1.
After Franklin Pierce registered a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth, Pezzolla hit his second home run of the day in the top of the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, freshman
Daniel Scolaro (Quincy, Mass.) registered his first collegiate hit with a single to left field.
