The Franklin Pierce baseball team is heading to the NCAA Division II World Series after winning the East Regional, which the Ravens hosted in Rindge.
The Ravens started out strong on Friday, as they walloped Felician 18-0 behind a shutout by pitcher Paul Covelle. Covelle struck out seven through 5.1 innings for the win.
Max DiTondo, Kyle Hood and Stephen Octave all homered in that game; Octave and Jay Jabs each drove in four runs.
FPU continued their dominance on Saturday, scoring nine first-inning runs to give themselves a lead they’d never surrender.
Anthony Matazarro picked up the win in that one, striking out four with two earned runs.
Jabs drove in another three runs and Hood knocked in four.
The Ravens had Sunday off, as the rest of the field sorted itself out in double-elimination fashion. From that pool emerged SNHU — with one loss — to face the Ravens for the championship on Monday.
Between the regular season and the playoffs, FPU has only seven losses, but after Monday afternoon, two of them were at the hands of SNHU.
The Ravens faced the Penmen in front of a large crowd, thanks in part to FPU president Andy Card’s request to “excuse all Ravens fans at noon” so they could take in the game.
The Penmen took the first game 4-3, handing Covelle only his second loss of the year.
Fortunately for FPU, they had skated through the tournament without a loss, and they took the field shortly after the first game to play SNHU again for all the marbles.
The Ravens entered the bottom of the seventh knotted at 3-3, but after a homer by Matt O’Herron and another by Maxx Sheehan, FPU had a 6-3 lead, and all Tanner Putnam had to do was strike out four in 1.2 innings to close it out for the save. Starter John Amendola got the win.
Ivon Clough of Dublin pitched two perfect innings for SNHU with three strikeouts.
The World Series starts Saturday in Cary, North Carolina.