Northeast-10 Championship Game: Bulldogs Drop a 4-2 Decision to Franklin Pierce; Turn to Ace Loh in Rematch at 3 p.m. for the Championship
BRYANT BASEBALL
May 13, 2007
Northeast-10 Championship Game: Bulldogs Drop a 4-2 Decision to Franklin Pierce; Rematch at 3 p.m. is for the Championship
LOWELL, MASS. - The Bryant baseball team dropped the first game of Sunday's championship doubleheader, losing to top-ranked Franklin Pierce 4-2.
With the loss, the two teams will rematch at 3 p.m., with the winner capturing the Northeast-10 Championship.
Scott Savastano broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning with a two-out single off Adam Vuolo (Walpole, Mass.) to give the Ravens the lead. They added an insurance unearned run after the Bulldogs committed their third error of the day.
This game was a pitcher's duel as freshmen pitchers Brent Almeida (Fairhaven, Mass.) and Kyle Vazquez traded out for out as the game was scoreless for the first six innings. Almeida went 15 batters at one point without surrendering a hit until Kevin Renaud blooped a two-out single to left field in the sixth inning.
The Bulldogs had a prime opportunity to score in the seventh when they had Mark Dondero (Medfield, Mass.) on third base with nobody out, and then the bases loaded wit hone out. But Vazquez struck out Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass.) and Mike Rocco (Tewksbury, Mass.) to end the threat and retired the Bulldogs in the seventh.
Franklin Pierce responded immediately as Savastano beat out an infield hit to lead off the seventh, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a wild pitch. After Kevin Rivers was hit by a pitch, Kim Hart drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Eric Polvani (Wallingford, CT) relieved Almeida and got Jake Christman to ground out to Rocco who threw out Savastano at the plate. But pinch hitter Tyler Bishop came through in the clutch with a two-strike single to right field that brought two Ravens home and gave his team the first lead of the game.
Bryant stormed back in the eighth with two of their own to tie the game. Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, CT) got the rally started with a single to right. T.J. Magnell (Leominster, Mass.) was walked on four pitches, and Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, RI) reached first on a fielding error to load the bases. Dondero followed with another hit, his ninth of the tournament, to score Vigurs and Dave Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) reached on an error that plated Magnell and tied the game. Reliever Clay Jenkins escaped further trouble striking out two and getting Campbell to fly out to end the threat and keep the game tied.
Polvani took the loss, seeing his record drop to 4-2.
The Bulldogs (32-21) struggled to get runners home all day as they left 13 runners stranded, including the bases full in the seventh and eighth.
Bryant ace Eric Loh (Old Greenwich, CT) will take the hill in the decisive game Sunday afternoon.
Linescore:
Franklin Pierce 4, Bryant University 2 (May 13, 2007 at Lowell,
Mass.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryant University... 000 000 020 - 2 7 3
(32-21)
Franklin Pierce..... 000 000 22X - 4 7 3 (44-9)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Bryant - Almeida; Polvani(7); Vuolo(8). Franklin Pierce -
Vazquez; Jenkins(8).
Win-Jenkins(6-1) Loss-Polvani(1-4) T-2:22
2007 Northeast-10
Tournament
Wednesday May 9 - Single Elimination
Game 1: #6 SCSU 2 at #3 Bryant 4 3:30 pm
Game 2: #5 Bentley 2 at #4 Pace 5 3 pm
Friday May 11 - Double Elimination at Lowell
Game 3: #3 Bryant 5 vs. #2 Lowell 4 (14
innings)
Game 4: #4 Pace 6 vs #1 Franklin Pierce 7
Saturday May 12 at Lowell
Game 5: #2 Lowell 0 vs. #4 Pace 4 (UMass Lowell eliminated)
Game 6:#3 Bryant 7 vs. #1 Franklin Pierce 4
Game 7: #4 Pace 1 vs. #1 Franklin Pierce 5 (Pace Eliminated)
Sunday May 13 at Lowell
Game 8: #3 Bryant 2 vs #1 Franklin Pierce
4
Game 9: #3 Bryant vs. #1 Franklin Pierce 3 pm