Senior Shane Franz capped the Skyhawks eighth inning rally with an RBI single, scoring the go-ahead run.

2010 NE-10 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
#4 Stonehill Rallies Past #6 Merrimack, 3-2

Bruno's two-run eighth inning double keys rally sending Skyhawks
into Sunday's Championship round for fifth time in program history

RINDGE, N.H. (May 8, 2010) – Fourth-seeded Stonehill College, ranked fourth in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Regional poll, rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat sixth-seeded Merrimack College on day three of the 2010 Northeast-10 Conference Baseball Championships, hosted by Franklin Pierce University, at Dr. Arthur and Martha Pappas Field this afternoon.

Stonehill (28-16, 17-9 NE-10) advances to Sunday's championship round where it awaits the winner of tomorrow morning's first game between Merrimack (21-18, 14-12 NE-10) and second-seeded Franklin Pierce. The Skyhawks, who must be defeated twice, will be seeking their third championship in their fifth finals appearance. Their last championship came in 2000, with the last championship appearance in 2005.

Stonehill's first game on Sunday will start 45-minutes upon the conclusion of the Merrimack/Franklin Pierce game set to start at 9 a.m. The "if necessary game", should Stonehill lose its first crack at the NE-10 title, would start 30-minutes upon the conclusion of the first championship game.

Stonehill rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for its tenth-straight victory with junior first baseman Angelo Bruno (Norwalk, Conn./Norwalk) delivering a two-run double down the leftfield line to knot the score at 2-2. Senior Shane Franz (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia) drove in Bruno with a one-out single up the middle after he stole third with the deciding run.

Bruno finished 2-for-3 on the afternoon for Stonehill with the double, two stolen bases, a run scored and two RBI. Franz hit 1-for-3 with a stolen base and RBI, while sophomore Rich McHugh (Pembroke, Mass./Thayer Academy) went 1-for-4 with a run scored. Senior Rob Von Stein (Trumbull, Conn./Trumbull) chipped in with a double.

Senior Angelo Bruno's two-run double sparked the Skyhawks rally and he scored the winning run on Franz's single. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr).

Senior Joe SantaBarbara (Danvers, Mass./Masconomet) collected the win (1-0) in relief for Stonehill with a perfect eighth inning. Junior Brenden Shepard (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet) notched his third save of the season (second in three games this weekend) with a one-two-three ninth, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Sophomore lefthander Eric Haughn (Pembroke, Mass./Pembroke) started for the Skyhawks and allowed two runs, just one earned, on seven hits with a strikeout and three walks over seven innings.

Sophomore P.T. Farnham (Andover, Mass./Andover) paced the Merrimack offense as he hit 2-for-3 with an RBI. Classmate Tim Curran (South Weymouth, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) batted 2-for-4 with an RBI, Sophomore Ray Walker (Lowell, Mass./Lowell) and freshman Mark O'Flynn (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) both finished 1-for-4 with a run scored, while Walker added a double.

Junior Keith Johansen (Tyngsborough, Mass./Tyngsborough) took the loss (2-2), surrendering the one earned run on three hits with a strikeout in two thirds of an inning. Freshman Mike Laracy (Weymouth, Mass./Weymouth) started for the Warriors and allowed two earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts and a walk in seven-plus innings of work.

Merrimack struck first with single runs in the first and second innings. O'Flynn led off the game with an infield single and later scored on a ground out by Curran. Walker reached on an error to lead off the second and scored on a two-out single to center.

Stonehill, who left nine runners on base in the contest, was unable to score off Laracy until the eighth when junior Scott Hackett (Bangor, Maine/Bangor) was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, followed by a single to left by McHugh. The runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch before Bruno laced his two-run double down the leftfield line. Bruno stole third and then scored the winning run when Franz singled up the middle with one out.