New Hampshire Hardball

SNHU defeats Franklin Pierce

When and Where: April 16, 2019 – Rindge, N.H. (Pappas Field)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 3, Franklin Pierce University 1
Records: SNHU 28-8 (14-3 NE10, 9-1 NE10 NE), FPU 16-16 (9-7 NE10, 5-5 NE10 NE)

BOX SCORE

Graduate student Jake Walkinshaw (Seymour, Conn.) allowed one run over nine innings, but left with the game tied, before the fourth-ranked Southern New Hampshire University baseball team scored a pair of runs in the 11th to secure both a 3-1 victory and the regular-season series win against in-state rival Franklin Pierce University on Tuesday evening a Pappas Field.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

  • Walkinshaw gave up one run on seven hits, while striking out nine and walking three.
  • Sophomore Jeffrey Praml (Bridgewater, N.J.) picked up the win, punching out one in a perfect 10th.
  • Redshirt-junior Brendan Welch (Easton, Mass.) recorded his first save, as he fanned two in a 1-2-3 11th.
  • Sophomore Sam Henrie (Middleboro, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • With the game mired in a pitcher’s duel, Southern New Hampshire scraped across the game’s first run in the fifth. Following two quick outs, junior Jake Coro (Johnston, R.I.) drew a walk, went to third when senior Joshua Zbierski (Stafford Springs, Conn.) reached on an error and scored on an infield single by sophomore Idelson Taveras (Lawrence, Mass.).
  • Franklin Pierce threatened in the seventh with John Mead collecting a two-out single, before Dylan Jones followed with a base hit to right, but Henrie fired a dart to third, cutting down Mead to end the inning.
  • The Ravens tied it in the ninth. Brad Roberto led off the frame with a single through the left side, with Jonel Ozuna working a walk, before a fielder’s choice groundout put runners at the corners. Jethro Hurt came through with a base hit to left that pulled FPU even. Another fielder’s choice grounder again put men at first and third, but Walkinshaw was able to get out of it with a fly ball to center.
  • In the 11th, junior Tom Blandini (Bow, N.H.) led off with a single to left-center, before being erased on a fielder’s choice grounder to short by redshirt-junior Joshua Goldstein (Haverhill, Mass.). Henrie followed with a base hit to left, with he and Goldstein moving into scoring position on a passed ball. Graduate student John Stanton (Sandwich, Mass.) was issued a free pass to load the bases before the Ravens went to the bullpen. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, junior Phoenix Hernandez (Brooklyn, N.Y.) drew a walk to force in Goldstein with the go-ahead run, before Henrie came home on a passed ball to make it 3-1.
  • Welch came in pounding the strike zone in the bottom half, throwing 11 of 15 pitches for strikes to make quick work of the Ravens.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

  • Taveras (RBI) and redshirt-sophomore Marcus Chavez (Queens, N.Y.; walk) were both 1-for-4.
  • Blandini finished 1-for-5.

NOTES

  • Southern New Hampshire has won 15 of the last 18 and 13 of 15.
  • SNHU has now won six straight against Franklin Pierce and takes the regular-season series for the third consecutive year.
  • In his last three starts, Walkinshaw is 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA, striking out 27 and walking just six, while allowing 19 hits in 25 innings.
  • Walkinshaw’s nine K’s move him past Mark Perec (1996-99) and former teammate Alex Person (2014-17), and into seventh place on the program’s all-time strikeouts list with 204.
  • Chavez has now hit safely in four games and is 8-for-15 (.533) during that span.
  • Redshirt-junior Sean Doherty (Haverhill, Mass.) and freshman Alex Kennedy (Braintree, Mass.) had their respective six- and four-game hitting streaks snapped.

UP NEXT

  • The Penmen return to action Friday (3:30 p.m.) when they play host to Bentley University.

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