F&M Clinches First Place in Centennial Conference Baseball Regular Season with Sweep of Dickinson

by Sports Information
5/1/05

LANCASTER, PA – Ted Serro (Jr., Brooklyn, NY/Xavier) threw a complete game three hit shutout with nine strikeouts in a 3-0 game one win and Andy Anderson (Fr., East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) went three-for-four with three RBI in an 11-1 victory in game two to lead the Diplomats to a doubleheader sweep of Dickinson College at Caplan Field.

The wins clinch the #1 seed and hosting rights for the Centennial Conference baseball playoffs on May 6, 7 and 8. On May 6, the #3 seed will host the #4 in a single elimination playoff game at 3:00 p.m. The winner will advance to face the #2 seed at Caplan Field on May 7 at 11:00 a.m. in a single elimination game, before the winner of the game faces the Diplomats in a best of three series. On May 7, game one of the Centennial Conference championship series will begin at 3:00 p.m., with game two and three (if necessary) set for noon and approximately 3:00 p.m. starts on May 8.

In game one, the Diplomats jumped on the board in the bottom of the first inning as Tommy Miller (Fr., York, PA/Central York) reached on a one out walk and Scott Haft (Sr., Jupiter, FL/Jupiter) reached on a two out walk before Dan Hanecak (Jr., Conestoga, PA/Lancaster Catholic) knocked them in with a double to give F&M a 2-0 lead.

Franklin & Marshall added another run in support of Serro in the third inning as Haft drove in Miller with a one out RBI single for a 3-0 lead.

Offensively, Hanecak went three-for-three with two RBI and Haft was two-for-two with an RBI to pace the Diplomats.

In game two, Dickinson scored in the first inning as Chris McInerney started the game off with a single and scored as Robert Gilcrest reached on a fielder’s choice for a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, the Diplomats sent nine batters to the plate scoring five runs on three hits, including a bases clearing two out triple by Anderson, for a 5-1 lead.

F&M added another run in the second inning as Rich Gallugi (Fr., Peabody, MA/Peabody) singled and moved around the bases before scoring on a wild pitch for a 6-1 lead.

The Diplomats tacked on two runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and another in the bottom of the eighth to take the game 11-1.

Jeff Rowand (So., York, PA/Dallastown) went five and one third innings allowing one run on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts to earn the win, while. EJ Leary (Jr., Seymour, CT/Seymour), Bobby Goman (Fr., Verona, NJ/Verona), Dan Tischler (Fr., New York, NY/Horace Mann) and Todd Cagwin (Sr., Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) combined to throw the final three and two thirds innings of work allowing no hits and striking out five batters.

Offensively, Anderson was three-for-four, Gallugi went two-for-five with three runs scored and Billy McGuire (So., Chappaqua, NY/Horace Greeley) was two-for four as the win clinched the #1 seed in the playoffs.

Franklin & Marshall (23-13, 15-3 Centennial Conference) will return to action on May 7-8 at Caplan Field in the playoffs as it marks the first time that Johns Hopkins University will not host the playoffs since the championship series format was initiated in 2002.