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LANCASTER, PA – Second baseman Tom Miller (Fr., York, PA/Central York) drove a pitch into centerfield to score pinch runner Andy Anderson (Fr., East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) from second base with the winning run as Franklin & Marshall won the 2005 Centennial Conference Baseball Championship with a 4-3 victory over #21 Johns Hopkins University.
As champions, F&M receives the Centennial Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament. The NCAA field will be announced on May 16. The win marks the second bottom of the ninth victory for the Diplomats in the three-game series as pitcher/pinch hitter Jeff Rowand (So., York, PA/Dallastown) doubled down the right field line to drive in catcher Stephen Frederick (Jr., Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) in the bottom of the ninth inning in a 1-0 game one victory on May 7. Ironically, Rowand factored in game three’s decision, while Miller factored in game one’s decision. In game one, Miller sacrificed to move Frederick to second base before Rowand slammed an RBI double. In game three, Rowand was the pitcher of record as he allowed two runs in the top of the ninth inning as Hopkins tied the score before Miller singled to give Rowand his sixth win of the season. The key to the game was the pitching of F&M starter EJ Leary (Jr., Seymour, CT/Seymour) who threw 7.0 innings allowing one hit and one run with three walks and two strikeouts. Leary, who entered the game with a .266 opponents’ batting average, threw 4.2 innings of hitless baseball before Paul Long doubled down the left field line with two outs in the fifth to drive in Bryce Baumann for Hopkins first hit of the game. Following Long’s double, Leary retired the next five batters he faced before Baumann reached on a throwing error by Miller with one out in the seventh inning. He retired the next two batters as Brian Harris lofted a foul pop-up back to F&M catcher Billy McGuire (So., Chappaqua, NY/Horace Greeley) before Ian Christie popped up to shortstop Josh Welk (So., Strasburg, PA/Lancaster Christian) to retire the Blue Jays in the seventh inning. Rowand came on in the eighth and mowed through the Hopkins’ lineup as Long flied out to center field, Gary Rosenberg popped up to Welk and Mike Durgala grounded out to third baseman Gary Kruger (Jr., East Islip, NY/East Islip). After a 1-2-3 half inning in the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays rallied as Paul Winterling launched a lead-off home run over the left field fence off Rowand to cut F&M’s lead to 3-2 with no outs. Mike Spiciarich singled up the middle before pinch hitter Jonas Fester fouled off three bunt attempts to strikeout for the first out of the inning. Spiciarich advanced to second base on a passed ball and moved to third on a wild pitch before Baumann walked to put runners on the corners. Corey Gleason pinch hit for Harris and lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield to bring in Spiciarich with the tying run. Baumann stole second base to move into scoring position with two outs, but Ian Christie ground out to Welk to bring the Diplomats up in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Jon Compitello (Jr., Yardley, PA/George School) singled up the middle and was replaced by pinch runner Anderson. McGuire popped up to Spiciarich at shortstop and pinch hitter Frederick walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Pinch hitter Eric Milavsky (Jr., Medford, NJ/Shawnee) struck out swinging to bring Miller to the plate with two outs. Miller, who entered the final two games of the best of three series batting .193 on the season, stroked a single up the middle off Hopkins’ pitcher Jason Thayer as Anderson raced around third base and across the plate with the winning run. The championship marks the third in school history as the 1978 Diplomats won the Middle Atlantic Conference title and the 1995 team captured the Centennial Conference crown.
F&M never trailed in third and deciding game of the series as the Diplomats tacked on two runs in the second, one in the sixth and one in the ninth for their 25th win of the season.
In the second inning, Scott Haft (Sr., Jupiter, FL/Jupiter) and Corey Caruthers (Jr., Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) singled through the right side of the infield off Thayer to lead off the inning. Dan Hanecak (Jr., Conestoga, PA/Lancaster Catholic) bounced a sacrifice bunt back to the mound to move Haft and Caruthers up to third and second base, respectively, before McGuire singled to right field to plate Haft and move Caruthers to third base. Welk then singled to center field to score Caruthers as the Diplomats went ahead 2-0.
Hopkins rallied for a run in the fifth as Long’s double broke up a no-hit attempt by Leary and halved F&M’s lead to 2-1.
The Diplomats got the run back in the sixth in a unique fashion as Caruthers singled to third base to lead off the inning. Hanecak grounded out to Spiciarich at shortstop to move Caruthers into scoring position with one out. He came into score on a two-base fielding error by Baumann in leftfield as Compitello flied out to left field. As Baumann attempted to throw the ball back into the infield, the ball slipped out of his hand and went over the outfield fence and out of play to bring Caruthers in from second base. Neither team could scratch a run across the plate until Winterling’s homer in the ninth as the Blue Jays batted .042 against Leary in the game, while F&M hit .314 off Thayer. Overall, Caruthers led the way for F&M in the clincher as he went two-for-four with two runs scored and five putouts in centerfield. For Hopkins, Long, Winterling and Spiciarich all went one-for-four to lead the Blue Jays, while Thayer took the loss allowing four runs on 11 hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a complete game. The win was a dramatic change from game two of the series in which the Blue Jays used 11 hits and six F&M errors to record a 9-1 win and tie the series at 1-1 after a 1-0 game one win by the Diplomats on May 7. In game two, the Blue Jays jumped on the scoreboard in the third inning as Eric Nigro doubled down the leftfield line off F&M starting pitcher Jeremy Knox (Jr., Bronx, NY/Iona Prep). Baumann reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt to put runners on the corners with no outs. Following a strikeout by Rob Sanzillo, Ian Christie singled to center field to score Nigro for a 1-0 lead. The lead grew as Baumann singled down the left field line to plate two runs for a 3-0 lead in the fourth before Hopkins scored three runs on two hits and a pair of errors in the sixth for a 6-0 lead. In the eighth, the Blue Jays sealed the win as Hopkins used two hits and three Franklin & Marshall errors to score three runs for a 9-0 lead. F&M broke up Hopkins’ shutout bid in the ninth inning as Rich Gallugi (Fr., Peabody, MA/Peabody) singled to center field and Compitello walked to put two runners on base with one out. Frederick doubled to drive in Gallugi for the 9-1 Hopkins’ win. The key to the game was Franklin & Marshall’s fielding as the Diplomats committed six errors behind Knox who allowed nine runs, including six unearned runs, and 11 hits with six strikeouts and no walks in a complete game. For Hopkins, pitcher Jason Hochfelder recorded a complete game win allowing one run on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts. At the plate, Baumann led the way going three-for-three with two runs and two RBI, while Durgala was two-for-five with a run scored. Overall, the series was a match-up of the Diplomats’ pitching and defense versus the Blue Jays’ bats as the Franklin & Marshall pitching staff held Hopkins to a .196 batting average (20-for-102), .265 slugging percentage and .231 on base percentage in the series with 15 strikeouts and four walks in 26.0 innings. The Blue Jays entered the championship playoffs batting a league best .330 with 101 doubles, Ted Serro (Jr., Brooklyn, NY/Xavier) went nine innings allowing six hits in a 1-0 game one win, while Leary recorded a 1.29 ERA in game three, Knox notched a 3.38 ERA in game two and Rowand tallied a 4.50 ERA in game three as the Diplomats allowed 12 runs, with five earned runs, in the series. At the plate, Frederick was the star of the series for the Diplomats going two-for-six (.333) with one double, a run scored, an RBI, one walk, two hit by pitches and a .556 on base percentage, while recording 12 putouts and a 1.00 fielding percentage in 18 innings behind the plate catching Serro and Knox in games one and two. For the Blue Jays, Baumann was the star of the series going four-for-six (.667) with three runs, four stolen bases and two RBI with a .750 on base percentage in three games. On the mound, the Hopkins’ pitchers held F&M to a .242 batting average (24-for-99) with a 1.73 ERA. The difference between the two staffs was walks and hit batsmen as Hopkins issued five walks to F&M’s four and hit three batters to F&M’s one in the series as the Diplomats had a .299 on base percentage. In addition, the Blue Jays trailed F&M in batters struck out 15-11 as the Diplomats fought off pitches to tire the Hopkins’ starting pitching of Hochfelder, Jim Flannery and Thayer who all tossed complete games. The championship series was historical as it marked the first time that Franklin & Marshall hosted any conference baseball playoff game and the first time that the Centennial Conference championship was not decided at Johns Hopkins University as the #1 seed has won each of the Centennial Conference tournaments. The Diplomats made their third appearance in the Centennial Conference playoffs. In 2002, #2 seed Franklin & Marshall fell to #4 seed Muhlenberg College 5-4 in 10 innings on a home run. Last year, the #2 seed Diplomats advanced to the title series for the first time in school history via a 5-4 win over Ursinus College in the semifinals on a walk-off homerun before Hopkins swept the championship series. F&M’s wins mark the first time that Johns Hopkins has lost a Centennial Conference championship game and series as the Blue Jays swept Muhlenberg (3-1 W, 5-4 W) in 2002 and 2003 (9-2 W, 6-4 W) and the Diplomats (18-15 W, 17-9 W) in 2004 in Baltimore. Historically, Franklin & Marshall last won the Centennial Conference title 10 years ago in 1995 as the Diplomats recorded a 30-6-1 record to win the regular season by three games over McDaniel College and earn the second conference title in school history. In 1978, the Diplomats finished 14-11-1 to win the Middle Atlantic Conference championship. The championship also caps a turnaround of the Franklin & Marshall baseball program by fifth year head coach Brett Boretti who inherited an 11-16 team from 2000 when he took over the program in the summer of 2000 and has gone 116-80 from 2001-2005. Further, the F&M senior class of 2005 is the all-time winningiest class in school history as they are now 97-60 in four seasons, including a 49-33 mark over the last two seasons. The championship series loss snaps a four-year CC championship win streak by Hopkins as the Blue Jays were seeking their eighth Centennial Conference title and fifth straight as the Blue Jays won the 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 crowns.
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