FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2016
Franklin Pierce Postgame Press Conference (Jayson King / Maxx Sheehan)
CARY, N.C. – Senior center fielder Maxx Sheehan went 2-for-3 with a walk in his final collegiate contest, but the No. 1/3 nationally-ranked and East Region champion Franklin Pierce could get nothing going offensively in an elimination game on Tuesday afternoon at Coleman Field at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
The Ravens saw their season end at the hands of Central Region champion and No. 3/12 Central Missouri, 6-0, on the third day of the NCAA Championship National Finals, hosted by Mount Olive and the Town of Cary.
With the loss, Franklin Pierce sees its seventh National Finals appearance end in a tie for seventh place and concludes its season at 48-9.
The Ravens are 96-13 (.881) over 109 games since the start of the 2015 season.
Central Missouri opened the scoring on Tuesday with a run in the bottom of the second inning. Senior first baseman Bennett Oliver led off and pulled a double down the right-field line. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by senior left fielder Derek Cornell and scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by junior third baseman Cole Distler.
The Mules doubled the lead to 2-0 with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Oliver started things again, this time with a one-out single into right-center. He went first-to-third on a single back through the middle by Cornell and scored on Distler's second sacrifice fly in three innings, this one via a diving catch by Franklin Pierce senior left fielder Kurtis White in the gap in left-center to prevent further scoring.
Another run in the bottom of the seventh inning pushed the lead to 3-0. With one out, junior second baseman Matt Safranek went the other way and dumped a single into right-center and moved to second on a groundout.
After a walk was issued to junior catcher Blake Wilfong and junior center fielder Matt Elliott was hit by a pitch, freshman right-hander Tony Sylvester issued a bases-loaded walk to senior right fielder Dylan Farrell to force home Safranek.
The final nail in the 2016 season for the Ravens came in the bottom of the eighth, as Central Missouri added another three runs to create the 6-0 final.
Again, Oliver was the catalyst, leading off the inning with a two-strike single back through the middle. Cornell followed with a bunt single, and a throwing error on the play allowed the runners to end up at second and third.
A pitch during the following at-bat went to the backstop, but ricocheted straight back to sophomore catcher Stephen Octave, who was able to race back to the plate in time to tag out Oliver.
Distler was next and drove in his third run of the game with an RBI single into right-center. After a walk to Safranek, junior shortstop Jackson Schnurbusch followed with the dagger, a two-run double inside the bag at third and down the left-field line to cap the scoring.
Sophomore right-hander John Amendola started on the mound for Franklin Pierce, but lasted just 3.2 innings, throwing 53 pitches (31 strikes). He allowed two runs on four hits, walked two and struck out two while taking the loss (7-2).
Junior right-hander Ethan Westphal (11-2) needed 21 pitches to get out of the first inning, but went on to fire 105 pitches (70 strikes) over seven shutout innings on the hill for Central Missouri.
He surrendered five hits, walked three and struck out four on the way to the win. Junior right-hander Tayler Ross threw scoreless ball, allowed one hit and struck out one over the final two innings to earn his first save of the season.
Additional reporting for this release provided by the Franklin Pierce athletics communications staff
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