Franklin Pierce Baseball Started a Dynasty with its 2003 Regional Title

The 2003 team was different.

The Franklin Pierce University baseball team had begun to improve in the early 2000s, under then-head coach Jayson King, but the 2003 team was different.

“The 2003 team had the bond and the vision necessary to break through,” said King, now a head coach at the Division I level with Dayton. “We had the mindset that nobody was going to get in our way. It was a belief as a group that was the difference. That, plus some talented players… It was a true team full of great people who came in and grew together.”

The 2003 squad came up just short of the team’s first Northeast-10 Conference Championship, as the Ravens fell in the tournament final to UMass Lowell. A week later though, Franklin Pierce announced its arrival on the national stage with some serious volume. In the program’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championship, the Ravens swept through the Northeast Regional and avenged the NE10 Title game loss in the final round of the regional tournament, with a 5-3 win over the River Hawks, who were then the power of note in the region. Franklin Pierce had claimed its first regional baseball title.

By the time all was said and done, the Ravens were NE10 finalists, Northeast Region champs, national semifinalists, and had posted a program-record 32 wins. Current head coach Mike Chambers ’06 was a freshman on the 2003 squad. He was just happy to be along for the ride and, at the time, had little realization of just how special a run the team was on.

“I was really just taking it all in as a freshman; we had a large group of seniors and, for me, I was trying to watch those guys and keep up,” said Chambers. “I was so focused on just winning and playing hard that I really had no idea what it truly meant to win the regional. When somebody told me there were only eight teams left, I almost fell over. I knew we had a chance to be good and very competitive, but I didn’t quite expect to be toe-to-toe with Tampa for a chance to continue on and play for a national championship.”

The 2003 success sparked a run of success which has not been equaled in the region since. The Ravens later claimed three straight Northeast Region titles in 2006, 2007 and 2008, to make it a stretch of four regional crowns in six years. The crimson and grey would then add East Region titles in 2010, 2013 and 2016, to make it seven trips to the Division II World Series in a span of just 14 seasons.

“Once we broke through in 2003 and then built Pappas Field, the outlook on Franklin Pierce baseball changed,” said King. “It became a destination for players who wanted to win and develop. When you get young people who are focused on those two things, you have a chance to be special. The talent level of our teams in 2006 through 2008 was at a different level than most teams we played in our region.”

The 2006 team may have been the one that truly launched the dynasty. The Ravens ran up a 46-13 record, improving the program record for wins by 14. Hosting the Northeast Regional for the second straight season, Franklin Pierce scored double digits in four of its five games at the regional, including a 21-1 shellacking of Southern Connecticut State in the regional final. The Ravens again finished as national semifinalists, and the 2006 campaign kicked off a run where the program won 40 or more games in five out of six seasons.

“That 2006 team is, to this day, the best team I have ever been around at any level,” said Chambers, who was a senior on the 2006 squad. “The expectations were extremely high. We had lost a heartbreaker to Southern Connecticut the year before in the regional championship. The image of them celebrating on our field stuck with me every day until the 2006 regional. We all knew we wouldn’t let it happen again.”

Despite all the successes which have come in the nearly two decades since, both King and Chambers recognize the importance of the 2003 team to everything which has happened since on the diamond in Rindge. In fact, Chambers still calls on his experiences as a freshman when coaching his current group of Ravens.

“The 2003 team is one of the teams I often talk about with my current teams,” said Chambers. “That team was special in a lot of ways. That was a group that literally changed the history of the program. Many of us were local kids who were overlooked and had a chip on our shoulder; guys who made themselves great players by sheer will. The landscape has obviously changed with the program’s success, but I try to keep bringing the old-school, hard-nosed characteristics that allowed us to elevate above programs that had been successful for a long time.”

For King, the 2003 squad is directly responsible for everything which came after.

“There was a clear culture that was created over that span of time that was obvious,” said King. “It was handed down from year to year, and the guys took great responsibility in maintaining and working to reach the highest of heights. It was something that was very special to be a part of.”

Without the difference-makers of 2003, the history of Franklin Pierce baseball would look very different indeed.

“Without those student-athletes and coaches who forced their way through,” King concluded, “who knows if the success we had over time would have even happened?”

Franklin Pierce Baseball Links of Note:

ABOUT THE NE10
Beginning its 40th anniversary season, the NE10 is an association of 14 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.

Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.