Courtesy St. Michael’s Sports Information
RINDGE, NH. — Sophomore Zach Rodgers (Parrish, Fla./Manatee) turned in his third stellar start of the spring on Saturday, helping the Saint Michael’s College baseball team blank regionally-ranked Franklin Pierce University, 2-0, to begin a doubleheader split at Pappas Field. The Purple Knights lost the nightcap, 5-3, as the teams opened a three-game Northeast-10 Conference weekend series. The Ravens are third in the latest New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) poll and qualified for 13 of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments.
RECORDS
· Saint Michael’s (5-7, 2-3 NE10), Franklin Pierce (11-10, 4-1 NE10)
Game 1
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· Sophomore Zach Rodgers (Parrish, Fla./Manatee), 8 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K, Win
· Senior Trevor Allen (Dennis, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth Regional), 1-for-3, R, RBI, HR; 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save
· Sophomore Julien Giroux-Harvey (Montreal, Québec/Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf), 1-for-3, R
· First-year Harrison Stampler (Miami, Fla./Coral Gables), 1-for-4, RBI
· Sophomore Anthony Azpeitia (Tampa, Fla./King), 2 sac bunts
OPPONENT LEADERS
· Junior James Boria, 2-for-3
· Junior Justin Perez, 2-for-4, SB
· Senior Anthony Matarazzo, 9 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
GAME FACTS
· The Ravens are third in the latest New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) poll.
· Franklin Pierce qualified for 13 of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments.
· Rodgers, who entered the day sixth in Division II in earned run average, improved to 3-0 behind a league-leading 0.38 ERA. He has allowed only one run, which was earned, in 24 innings this season. Rodgers extended his shutout innings streak to 20.1 on Saturday.
· Thanks to games Rodgers has started, Saint Michael’s earned its second NE10 shutout in six days. Prior to this week, the Purple Knights had three shutouts in their first 16 seasons of NE10 play.
· Allen cracked his 10th career home run, tying Nicky Elderton ’15 for second in program history. He also took over sole possession of second in saves with the fourth of his career, all in the last two seasons.
· Saint Michael’s registered its first win over Franklin Pierce since May 1, 2014, also in Rindge, and its initial shutout of the Ravens. It was the Purple Knights’ third victory in a series that began in 2000.
· The doubleheader was the opener of a three-game weekend series.
THE ACTION
· Franklin Pierce loaded the bases with no one out in the first inning, but first baseman Allen tossed home to get the lead runner on a fielder’s choice for the first out before sophomore third baseman Danté Moran (Saint Petersburg, Fla./Dixie Hollins) started an inning-ending double play.
· Allen led off the next inning with an opposite-field solo home run.
· Rodgers pitched around two runners in scoring position with no one out in the home half and left another runner at third in the third inning.
· Other than on Allen’s homer, no Purple Knight reached until Giroux-Harvey led off the sixth by taking first on a strikeout-wild pitch, and sophomore Cameron Kroeger (Clearwater, Fla./Countryside) walked with one down in the seventh. Both were stranded.
· First-year pinch runner Joel Lara swiped second to put the tying run in scoring position with two down in the seventh, but Rodgers got the final hitter to ground out to Moran.
· Giroux-Harvey singled leading off the ninth, and Stampler doubled the lead with a two-out RBI single.
· With Allen on in the home half, he pitched around a single and an outfield error that put a runner at third with one down by inducing a groundout before fanning the final batter.
Game 2
SAINT MICHAEL’S LEADERS
· Kroeger, 1-for-4, R, 2 RBIs, HR
· Allen, 1-for-3, R, BB, 2B
· First-year Sebastian Oetterer (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips), 1-for-4, RBI
· Sophomore Alex Mendez (Fallon, Nev./Churchill County), 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
· First-year JP LaBarge (Dennis, Mass./Nauset Regional), 2 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
OPPONENT LEADERS
· Junior Jonel Ozuna, 2-for-4, 3 RBIs, 2B
· Junior Dylan Jones, 1-for-2, 2 R, BB, HP, 2 SB
· Senior Shane Kittila, 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
· Senior Evan Glew, 3.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, Win
· Junior Ben Mallet, 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, Save
GAME FACTS
· Allen knocked his 32nd career double, taking over first place in program history after entering the day tied with Elderton for the school record.
· Each of the first three Franklin Pierce runs came courtesy of an infield single, with the first two scoring on infield hits before the third run was scored by Jones, who had beaten out an infield knock.
· Three of the Ravens’ runs came with two out.
THE ACTION
· Boria doubled with two down in the first before scoring on junior John Mead’s infield single.
· Saint Michael’s got the run back in the top of the second frame, as Allen doubled leading off before Oetterer came through with his team-leading 11th RBI on a one-out single. Giroux-Harvey walked with two down, but no Purple Knight reached again until Allen led off the seventh with a base on balls.
· In the meantime, Perez’s infield single plated a run in the fifth, and Jones reached on an infield knock in the sixth, stole second, and came home on Ozuna’s RBI double.
· Ozuna made it 5-1 one inning later, poking a two-out, two-run single through the left side.
· Stampler led off the ninth with a walk before Kroeger cracked his first home run of the spring, and second of his career, to make it 5-3. However, Glew and Mallet responded by combining to fan the side.
NEXT SAINT MICHAEL’S GAME
· Sunday at Franklin Pierce, 4 p.m.