Crawford pitches complete game shutout, Roche homers twice in victory

Sophomore Dan Fratus had one of the Skyhawks hits on the evening.

RINDGE, N.H. (May 9, 2012) – Third-seeded Stonehill College, ranked sixth overall in the latest NCBWA East Regional Poll, dropped a 6-0 decision to second-seeded and no. 14/26 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference (NE-10) Baseball Tournament on Wednesday evening at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field.

Graduate student Jack Crawford (Montgomery, N.Y./St. Andrews Univ.) hurled a four-hit shutout with no walks and a game-high nine strikeouts to lead the Ravens. Crawford only gave up four singles and retired the last eight batters he faced in order to push his record to 6-2 overall on the season.

Freshman Jim Duff (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) was handed the loss on five-and-two-thirds innings pitched, five hits, three runs (two earned), one walk and five strikeouts.

Franklin Pierce claimed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as sophomore outfielder Calvin Graves (Boston, Mass./West Roxbury) took off from third base and scored without a throw after junior shortstop Dan Kemp (Sturbridge, Mass./Tantasqua Regional) beat out a double play by hustling down the first base line.

In the fifth, senior second baseman Dan Hennigan (Downingtown, Pa./Philadelphia University) drove in Graves with a sacrifice bunt to give the Ravens a 2-0 lead. Graves reached third base on a throwing error down the right field line with one out in the inning.

James Roche (Arlington, Mass./Bentley University) added to the lead with a solo homer to left centerfield, his first of two in the contest, in the sixth giving Franklin Pierce a 3-0 advantage.

Roche went deep again in the eighth with another towering homer – a two-run shot to left centerfield – to push the gap to 5-0. After Zach Mathieu (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) doubled to right centerfield and advanced to third base on a sacrifice bunt, freshman catcher Matt Walsh (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) lifted a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield for a 6-0 margin.

Stonehill freshman centerfielder Billy Horobin (Wallingford, Conn./Mark T. Sheehan) robbed Walsh of an extra-base hit making a catch over his shoulder in full stride just before the warning track.

Stonehill (30-19, 18-11 NE-10, 13-8 Northeast Division) awaits word on a possible at-large bid into the NCAA East Regional Tournament. Franklin Pierce (34-15-1, 20-7-1 NE-10, 14-6-1 Northeast Division) advances to the double elimination round of the NE-10 Baseball Championships against fourth-seeded New Haven, of the Southwest Division, on Friday, May 11 at 10 a.m. in Manchester, N.H. at Sullivan Park on the campus of Saint Anselm College. The Hawks have earned the right to host the three-day NE-10 Baseball Championship as the highest remaining Northeast Division seed in the tournament.