Box Score MANCHESTER, N.H. – No. 12 Southern New Hampshire University pushed across a run in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to a 2-1 Northeast-10 baseball victory over No. 26 Franklin Pierce University Wednesday night at Penmen Field. The Penmen, who are No. 12 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) Division II poll, improved to 29-8 and 16-3 in the NE-10, while the Ravens, who check in at No. 26 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, are now 25-13 and 12-6 in league play.
Senior Derrick Sylvester (Franklin, N.H.) upped his record to 7-1 with eight strong innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out nine and issuing a pair of walks. Benjamin Criscuolo (Branford, Conn.) nailed down the game with his eighth save in the ninth.
FPU's Conor Gleason was the hard-luck loser, not surrendering a hit until Brendan O'Brien (East Bridgewater, Mass.) reached on a close infield single to lead off the eighth. He went 7.2 innings and struck out 11 while surrendering two runs (one earned), but did hand out six walks.
With the game tied 1-1, O'Brien led off with his single to short in the bottom of the eighth, but the next two batters struck out. O'Brien moved into scoring position with a steal, his 36th of the season, before Gleason issued back-to-back walks to Riley Palmer (Goffstown, N.H.) and Mike Mastroberti (Ramsey, N.J.) to load the bases. Franklin Pierce head coach lifted Gleason for closer Doug Willey.
Willey went up 1-2 on Alejandro Diaz (Old Bridge, N.J.), but after a foul ball, tossed three straight balls as Diaz worked the bases-loaded walk to plate O'Brien. Willey would escape further damage by striking out pinch hitter Kyle McGinnity (Northboro, Mass.) to end the inning.
Marty Dunlap greeted Criscuolo by knocking the first pitch of the top of the ninth through the left side for a leadoff single, however, Criscuolo responded by inducing a 4-3 double play and a pop out to second baseman Mastroberti to preserve the win.
Franklin Pierce staked itself to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Calvin Graves led off the game with a single and eventually scored on a groundout by John Razzino. SNHU responded in the bottom of the fourth as Manny Cruz (Wolcott, Conn.) led off with a walk and scored on a sac fly by Mastroberti.
After Graves' leadoff single, Sylvester did not allow another hit until the seventh, when Chris LaVorgna singled and Jay Jabs doubled with two outs. After a walk loaded the bases, Sylvester got out of the jam by inducing a slow grounder to third, which third baseman Palmer collected and stepped on the third base bag to end the inning.
Seven of the last 10 games between Southern New Hampshire and Franklin Pierce have been decided by one run.
Southern New Hampshire returns to action Friday when it travels to Merrimack College for a 3:30 contest.
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