FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
Southern Connecticut 6 Pace 1
RINDGE, N.H. – Senior starting pitcher Toby Nylin (Pleasant Valley, Conn.) pitched a complete-game four-hitter and recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts on Saturday to lead the Southern Connecticut State University baseball team to a 6-1 victory over Pace in an elimination game at the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at Dr. Pappas Field. Freshman left fielder Andrew Babb (Hopkinton, Mass.) hit 2-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Owls. With the win, SCSU improves to 35-16, while Pace falls to 31-23 with the loss.
Pace opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning. Andre Licinsky led off with a walk and moved to second when Vinny Dammann laid down a sacrifice bunt. Dammann reached first base as the SCSU defense chose to attempt to cut down Licinsky at second. After a double steal and a strikeout put runners at second and third with one out, Chris Brown grounded out to third base to drive home Licinsky with the game’s first run.
The Owls answered with two runs in the bottom half of the frame to take a 2-1 lead. With one out, junior first baseman Mo Davidson (Winsted, Conn.) knocked a single into left field and then stole second. Two batters later, senior designated hitter Anthony Fiorillo (New Haven, Conn.) lined a ball to left field that eluded the grasp of a diving Dammann and went for an RBI triple to score Davidson and tie the game. Babb followed with a line-drive single to left to bring home Fiorillo.
SCSU extended the lead to 3-1 with a run in the bottom of the sixth. Davidson led off with a single back through the middle, moved to second on a wild pitch and took third on a groundout. After an intentional walk to Fiorillo, Babb lined an RBI single to center to score Davidson.
The Owls effectively put the game away with three unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth to push the lead to 6-1. Junior center fielder Karl Derbacher (Northford, Conn.) led off with a single up the middle. After a strikeout and a pop-up, Pace third baseman Aaron Zrenda made an error on a ground ball by SCSU freshman catcher Nick DeProspo (Worcester, Mass.) which extended the inning and put runners at second and third. Senior right fielder Paul Izzo (Cohoes, N.Y.) capitalized with a single up the middle to plate both runners and make it a 5-1 game. Izzo would take second on the play on a throw to the plate and then scored on an RBI single to right by junior third baseman Justin Cox (Newburgh, N.Y.).
Nylin went the distance on the hill to notch the win (5-2) for SCSU. He surrendered one run on four hits, walked one, threw a wild pitch, hit a batter and struck out a career-high 11.
Nicholas DeMeo started on the hill and took the loss (4-2) for Pace. Over five innings, he gave up two runs on five hits, issued no walks and struck out four.
The Owls return to action later Saturday, when they take on either Franklin Pierce or Bryant in the second elimination game of the day. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Dr. Pappas Field.
Franklin Pierce 10 Bryant 9
RINDGE, N.H. (May 10, 2008) – Third-seeded Franklin Pierce University, ranked 20th in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and pingbaseball.com Division II polls and 29th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, held off top-seeded Bryant University, ranked 12th in the NCBWA poll and 28th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine rankings, in game six of the 2008 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championships, presented by Diamond Sports and UBS/The Ricciardi Group, at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.
Franklin Pierce (38-12, 20-10 NE-10) advances to tomorrow’s championship round for the fourth time in program history and will seek its third Northeast-10 tournament championship (second-straight) when it faces second-seeded Southern Connecticut State University (36-16, 24-6 NE-10) at 11 a.m. The Owls rebounded from yesterday’s 5-2 setback to the Ravens in the opening game of the championship and battled through the loser’s bracket with wins over fifth-seeded Pace University (6-1) in today’s first game before eliminating Bryant (39-19), 1-0, tonight. Southern Connecticut will need to defeat Franklin Pierce twice tomorrow to claim its first NE-10 tournament title, after finishing as runners-up on three previous occasions.
Senior Matt Anderson’s lone hit of the afternoon was a big one as his leadoff homer in the top of the ninth would prove to be the difference.
Sophomore rightfielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) continues to swing a hot bat for Franklin Pierce in the postseason, finishing 3-for-5 at the plate today with a double, home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Rivers is now hitting 7-for-11 (.636) with four home runs and ten RBI through the Ravens first three NE-10 Tournament games.
Senior Matt Anderson (Medford, Mass./Medford) was 1-for-3 with a solo home run in the ninth, that proved to be the game-winning run, and two runs scored for the Ravens. Grad student Jake Christman (Newton, Mass./Newton South) was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, RBI and run scored, while freshman Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) hit 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Junior preseason All-American Scott Savastano (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) batted 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Junior lefthander Alex Szymanski (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) earned the win in relief for Franklin Pierce (1-0), allowing two unearned runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts over three innings. Senior Tyler Bishop (Milford, N.H./Milford) picked up his second save in as many days (8th of the season) despite yielding an earned run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts over the final 1.2 innings.
Grad student Jake Christman was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, RBI and run scored.
Sophomore Dylan Stone (Portsmouth, R.I./Portsmouth) led Bryant, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Junior Dave Muscatello (Hopkinton, Mass.) hit 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, while sophomore Jeff Vigurs (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor) was 2-for-4 with a stolen base and two RBI. Junior Pat O’Connor (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester) finished 1-for-3 with a double, stolen base and two RBI.
Freshman righthander David O’Brien (Whitman, Mass./Whitman-Hanson) suffered his first loss of the season (6-1) on the mound for Bryant, surrendering five runs, four earned, on four hits with a strikeout and three walks over Bryant opened the scoring with a three-run first after O’Brien breezed through a 1-2-3 frame in the Franklin Pierce half of the inning. Vigurs collected an RBI single up the middle with one out. O’Connor scored when junior Pat McKenna (Orange, Conn./Amity) beat out a potential inning-ending double-play at first, with sophomore Nick Campbell (Raynham, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) also hustling in from second base to score on the play.
Junior Alex Szymanski earned a relief win with three solid innings of work.
Franklin Pierce went to work, scoring once in the second when junior Steve Carr (Nahant, Mass./St. Mary’s) followed up a one-out walk by Anderson with an RBI triple. The Ravens took the lead with a four-run third to chase O’Brien. Christman led off the inning with a single up the middle and scored when Ingui reached on an error during a sacrifice bunt attempt. Rivers delivered an RBI single to right and later scored the fourth run of the frame on a wild pitch. Ingui also scored on a wild pitch in the frame.
Franklin Pierce added three in the fourth, Rivers three-run homer, and a single run in the fifth to stake out a 9-3 lead. Junior Cliff Hicks (Merrimack, N.H./Merrimack) laced a one-out triple in the fifth and scored on Christman’s two-out single to left.
Bryant started its comeback effort with three runs in the home half of the fifth to chase Franklin Pierce sophomore starter Kyle Vazquez (Berlin, N.H./Berlin). O’Connor had a two-run double down the rightfield line with one out, while Vigurs added an RBI single through the right side. Sophomore Taylor Ferguson (Charlton, Mass./St. John’s) had an RBI single for the Bulldogs in the seventh, before Campbell’s sacrifice fly in the eighth brought Bryant within a run again (9-8) in the eighth.
Anderson led off the ninth with his fourth homer of the season to center with what would prove to be the deciding run for Franklin Pierce. Bryant loaded the bases on Bishop with one out in the bottom of the ninth on a pair of singles and a walk, but managed just an RBI ground out by Muscatello as Bishop recovered to strike out senior Jason Alexander (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) to end the contest.
Southern Connecticut 1 Bryant 0
RINDGE, N.H. – Senior right fielder Paul Izzo (Cohoes, N.Y.) drew a bases loaded walk in the top of the ninth inning to drive home junior center fielder Karl Derbacher (Northford, Conn.) with the only run of the game on Saturday night as the Southern Connecticut State University baseball team fought off elimination for the second time of the day with a 1-0 victory over No. 12 nationally ranked Bryant at the Northeast-10 Conference Championships at Dr. Pappas Field. With the win, SCSU improves to 36-16 and advances to Sunday’s championship round against Franklin Pierce. With the loss, Bryant falls to 39-19.
After eight scoreless innings with few scoring chances for either side, the Owls opened the scoring with a run in the top of the ninth. Derbacher led off with a walk and moved to third on a double off the fence in right field by senior designated hitter Anthony Fiorillo (New Haven, Conn.). After a strikeout, freshman catcher Nick DeProspo (Worcester, Mass.) was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Izzo then worked a walk to force home Derbacher with the first and only run of the game. After a strikeout, sophomore shortstop Greg Malen (Stamford, Conn.) followed with a ground ball towards the hole on the right side, however the ball struck Izzo between first and second for the third out of the inning.
Senior Nick Carlucci (Franklin, Mass.) started on the hill and picked up the victory (6-2) for SCSU. Over eight shutout innings, he gave up five hits, walked two, hit three batters, threw a wild pitch and struck out six. Junior Mike Connors (Wallingford, Conn.) pitched a scoreless ninth, allowed one hit and struck out one to notch his fifth save of the season.
Brent Almeida started on the mound and took the loss (3-4) for Bryant. Over eight-plus innings, he gave up one run on six hits, walked two and struck out five.
The Owls return to action on Sunday, May 11, when they take on Franklin Pierce in the championship round, with SCSU needing to beat the Ravens twice to claim its first-ever Northeast-10 Conference title. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Dr. Pappas Field. If the Owls win that game, there will be a winner-take-all contest to follow 40 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
