PACE COMES UP JUST SHORT IN UPSET BID OF FRANKLIN PIERCE 5-4

PLEASANTVILLE, NY - The Pace University baseball team lost a tough NE-10 Conference battle to the first place Ravens of Franklin Pierce University 5-4 on Thursday afternoon at Finnerty Field. The Setters are now 11-7-1 at Finnerty Field this season.

This loss will drop Pace to 17-23-1 for the season, and 11-13 in the NE-10 Conference. The win improves the Ravens to 26-14 for the year, and a conference best 17-5 in league play.

Franklin Pierce got on the board first in the top of the first inning as the Ravens put up a run on three hits off Pace starter Mike Sciarretta (Stamford, CT/Stamford) (2-1) to take a 1-0 lead.

The Pace offense came to life in the bottom half of the third inning scoring two runs on three hits to give the Setters a 2-1 lead. Patrick Chaputian (Sea Cliff, NY/North Shore) (Sea Cliff, NY/North Shore) led off the inning with a single to center field. Tyler Hart (Poughquag, NY/Arlington) (Poughquag, NY/Arlington) followed with a single of his own through the left side to put runners on first and second with no outs. After a Steven Sterlacci (Bohemia, NY/Connetquot) (Bohemia, NY/ Connetquot) sacrifice bunt the Setters had runners on second and third with one outs, and JJ Conrad (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) (Hamburg, NJ/Wallkill Valley) coming up to the plate. Conrad got Pace on the board with an RBI single down the left field line to tie the game at 1-1. Denis Alimonti (Jefferson Valley, NY/Lakeland) (Jefferson Valley, NY/ Lakeland) kept the runs coming driving in Hart with an RBI sacrifice fly to centerfield make the score 2-1 in favor of Pace after three innings.

The Setters went on to widen their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to an RBI groundout by Chaputian, and a clutch RBI double to deep right-center by Hart.

Franklin Pierce got themselves right back in it in the top of the fifth inning as they scored two runs on two hits to close the gap to 4-3 after five innings.

Sciarretta couldn't hold down the Ravens bats as they completed their comeback in the top of the seventh inning scoring two more runs on three hits in the inning to take a 5-4 lead. Sciarretta pitched six and a third innings in the game giving up five runs on eights hits. He struck out six, and walked one on the day.

Pace went down in order in the bottom of the ninth as the Setters couldn't pull off a comeback of their own as they would go on to lose 5-4.     

The Setters will be back in action tomorrow as they will travel to Rindge, NH to take on this same Franklin Pierce squad. The game is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.