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| Luke Enman '08 |
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Mason Roberge '11 |
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| Ian Lee
'11 |
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| Todd Keneborus
'11 |
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| Andrew
Wood '08 |
STANDISH, ME - Despite recording just five hits, Rivier
College (14-12, 7-5 GNAC) defeated St. Joe's (21-13, 8-6 GNAC) 10-7
in game one. The Monks rebounded to win the second game, 6-0, behind
outstanding pitching from FY Mason Roberge
(Franklin, NH), who improved his personal record to 4-1 with the win,
and SO Andrew Keirstead (Westbrook,
ME). SR Luke Enman (Milan, NH),
FY Ian Lee (Hampden, ME) and FY
Todd Keneborus (Hollis Center, ME)
all hit home runs for the Monks in the GNAC doubleheader.
With a sweep of the twinbill versus Rivier the Monks would gain sole
possession of third place in the conference and host the #6 seed in
the preliminary round of the GNAC tournament on Tuesday, April 22nd.
Everything seemed to be going as planned in game one when JR Wade
Oliver (Owls Head, ME) led off the bottom of the
first with a single, was sacrificed over to second with a SR Brian
Schools (Gorham, ME) bunt and driven home with a
Luke Enman long ball to the left-center
gap to give the Monks a 2-0 lead.
The Raiders scored a run in the top of the second when Joe Gargan
(Hudson, NH) was sent home with a Roger Larochelle (Pelham, NH) sac
fly to left field to make it a one-run game, 2-1 Monks.
Oliver hit a two-RBI single to send home Todd
Keneborus and FY Eric LaBatte
(Rochester, NH) in the bottom of the second to put the Royal Blue
up 4-1.
The feisty Raiders would go on to make is a one-run contest again
when John McMahon (Somerville, MA) hit a two-run home run in the top
of the third to lessen the SJC lead to 4-3.
After Rivier starting pitcher Franco Pisano (Lynnfield, MA) held the
St. Joe’s hitters scoreless in the bottom of the third, the
Raiders mounted a six-run fourth off just one hit. The Monks defenders
made two errors and the SJC pitchers hit three batters and walked
one in the inning that saw the Raiders take a 9-4 lead.
St. Joe’s battled back to score three in the top of the fourth.
Todd Keneborus connected for his
second home run in as many days, a solo moon-shot to left-center,
Brian Schools singled home SR Andrew
Wood (South Portland, ME) and Luke
Enman hit a sac fly to score Wade
Oliver in the inning to lessen the Rivier lead to
9-7.
Rivier added an insurance run in the top of the sixth on a Kevin Moyer
(Georgetown, MA) RBI double to make the final score 10-7, Raiders.
The Monks squandered several opportunities to tie the game as runners
were stranded on second and third in both the fourth and fifth innings.
The Monks outhit the Raiders 15 to 5, but left 9 runners on base in
the game opposed to just 3 runners stranded for Rivier.
For the Monks, Andrew Wood was 3-3
with a run, Wade Oliver went 3-5
with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s, Eric LaBatte
2-4 with a run and SO Ben Grant-Roy
(Biddeford, ME) was 2-4 with a double. Sophomore starting pitcher
Mike Burdin (Gardiner, ME) takes
the loss and FY Chris Dion (Lawrence,
MA) pitched 3.2 innings, scattered 3 hits and allowed one run in relief.
For Rivier, John McMahon was 2-5 with 5 RBI’s and winning pitcher
Franco Pisano allowed 11 hits and 6 earned runs in the game. Reliever
Isaac Burkett (Hudson, NH) pitched 3.2 innings in relief and scattered
4 hits while striking out 3 SJC batters.
With a sweep now out of the question, the Monks re-focused their energy
on winning game two to obtain a split with the Raiders.
After a scoreless first inning, the Monks got on the board the same
way they did to start game one: with a long-ball. After Keneborus
reached on a miscue by Rivier shortstop Ryan O’Connor (Medford,
MA), Ian Lee stepped to the plate
and deposited a blast over the fence in left-center to give St. Joe’s
a 2-0 lead. The home run was Lee’s third of
the season.
The two runs would prove to be more than enough run support for SJC
starting pitcher Mason Roberge,
who threw five innings and allowed just 4 hits while whiffing two.
SO Travis Adams (Saco, ME) led off
the fifth with a single and was replaced with pinch runner FY John
Swasey (South Berwick, ME). With one out, Brian
Schools doubled home Swasey and
later scored on a Luke Enman sac
fly to right field to give St. Joe’s a 4-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ian Lee
hit an RBI single that scored SR Dustin Spiller
(Gorham, ME) and Eric LaBatte hit
a sac fly to center to send home pinch runner JR Steve
Gorsun (South Berwick, ME) to wrap up the game scoring
with the Monks on top, 6-0.
For the Monks, Ian Lee went 3-3
with 3 RBI’s and Luke Enman
added to his career leading triples total with his 6th three-bagger
of the season. Pitcher Andrew Keirstead
threw two innings of relief and allowed two hits.
For the Raiders, Kevin Moyer and Ryan O’Connor both collected
two hits in the loss. Starting pitcher Phil Goulet (Framingham, MA)
threw a complete game and allowed 8 hits, 4 earned runs and 2 walks
to take the loss.
Third-place Rivier will play a GNAC doubleheader at Albertus Magnus
on Sunday, April 20th to determine the final seedings for the conference
tournament. With the split the Monks remain in fourth place in the
GNAC, but depending on the outcome of the Rivier-Albertus Magnus games,
could wind up in third place. Either way, the Monks will host a GNAC
prelim game on Tuesday, April 22nd. Time and opponent to be determined.
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