Franklin & Marshall Sweeps Villa Julie 8-2 & 7-1 in Baseball

by Sports Information
3/26/05

LANCASTER, PA – Dan Hanecak (Jr., Conestoga, PA/Lancaster Catholic) went five-for-seven with two runs scored, while EJ Leary (Jr., Seymour, CT/Seymour) and Jeff Rowand (So., York, PA/Dallastown) both picked up wins to lead the Franklin & Marshall College baseball team to a sweep of Villa Julie College.

In game one, with two outs and Rob Stern (Fr., Franklin Hills, NJ/Indian Hills) on second base, Corey Caruthers (Jr., Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) lined a two out single to score Stern. John Compitello (Jr., Yardley, PA/George School) then drove an RBI double to center field to score Caruthers for a 2-0 lead. After an RBI single by Hanecak, and a single by Eric Milavsky (Jr., Medford, NJ/Shawnee), Billy McGuire (So., Chappaqua, NY/Horace Greeley) drove in Hanecak with an RBI single. After a wild pitch moved Milavsky and McGuire up a bag, Josh Welk (So., Strasburg, PA/Lancaster Christian) drove in Milavsky for a 4-0 lead. The Diplomats tacked on three more runs on three straight RBI singles for a 7-0 lead after one complete inning.

Villa Julie cracked the scoring column in the top of the third as Tim Buck reached on a fielder’s choice then eventually scored on an RBI single by Kevin Rodgers to cut the Diplomats lead to 7-1.

Both teams traded runs in the next four innings as the Diplomats took an 8-2 win behind a complete game from Leary as he allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out eight. Gary Sanders took the loss for the Mustangs going two-thirds of an inning allowing seven runs (all earned) on eight hits and two walks.

In game two Villa Julie jumped on the board first in the top of the third inning as Casey Lowe reached on an error then scored on a RBI triple by Tim Buck to put the Mustangs up 1-0.

F&M answered in the bottom of the fourth when Caruthers drove a pitch over the leftfield fence to knot the game at 1-1.

Franklin & Marshall then scored three in the bottom of the fifth as Stephen Frederick (Jr., Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) led the inning off with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tommy Miller (Fr., York, PA/Central York). After a Pat O’Reilly (Fr., Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) walk, Stern drove in Frederick with an RBI single that advanced O’Reilly to second. Kruger singled in O’Reilly and moved Stern to third as the Diplomats scored the third run of the inning on a double steal as Kruger stole second and Stern scored to give F&M a 4-1 lead.

Franklin & Marshall later scored one in the bottom of the sixth and two in the bottom of the seventh for the 7-1 victory.

Rowand went eight innings allowing one unearned run on three hits with five strikeouts and two walks before Todd Cagwin (Sr., Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) pitched a perfect ninth to finish the game.

Franklin & Marshall (6-8, 0-0 CC) will continue the season on March 29th at Ursinus College for both teams’ Centennial Conference season openers. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.