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LANCASTER, PA – Starting pitcher Ted Serro (Sr., Brooklyn, NY/Xavier) went six innings with 12 strikeouts and no hits allowed to earn the win and third baseman Gary Kruger (Sr., East Islip, NY/East Islip) finished two-for-three with one run scored and two walks as the Franklin & Marshall College baseball opened their home slate with a 10-6 win over Endicott College in non-conference action at Caplan Field. Serro dominated the game in his six innings of work striking out the first eight batters he faced and 10 of the 14 batters to step to the plate in the first four innings of the game. The Gulls (0-1, 0-0 Cape Cod Conference) threatened once against Serro as Steve Vidmosko walked with one out in the fifth inning and stole second base. Mark Vaughan grounded out to move Vidmosko to third base, but Serro finished the inning by striking out Thomas Warner looking for his 11th K of the game. He finished his time on the mound in the top of the sixth by striking out Dan Gomez swinging to end the inning. At the plate, the Diplomats (7-3, 0-0 Centennial Conference) jumped out to an 8-0 lead through three innings of play as Franklin & Marshall tacked on a run in the bottom of the first inning. Eric Milavsky (Sr., Medford, NJ/Shawnee) led off the inning with a base hit to shortstop and stole second base. Rob Stern (So., Franklin Lakes, NJ/Indian Hills) reached on a throwing error by Endicott third baseman Gavin Softic to put runners on the corners with no outs before Pat O’Reilly (So., Mt, Laurel, NJ/Lenape) flied out to centerfield to allow Milavsky to advance to third base. Stern stole second base and Kruger walked to load the bases before Corey Caruthers (Sr., Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) hit into a fielders choice to plate Milavsky for a 1-0 lead. The Diplomats expanded the lead in the third inning as the team slugged eight hits and plated seven runs for an 8-0 lead. Franklin & Marshall added to the lead in the sixth as O’Reilly, Kruger and Dan Hanecak (Sr., Conestoga, PA/Lancaster Catholic) walked to load the bases with one out before Jon Compitello (Sr., Yardley, PA/George School) lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to score O’Reilly for a 9-0 margin. Endicott cut into the lead in the seventh inning with two outs against reliever Justin Leonard (Fr., Malvern, PA/Malvern Prep) as Joe Paciello reached on a fielding error before being lifted for pinch runner Abe Bellini. Bellini stole second base and scored on a single to right field by Vidmosko that broke up the Diplomats no-hit bid. The Gulls tacked on five runs in the eighth on four hits and a fielding error to pull to within 9-6, but Franklin & Marshall added a run in the eighth for the 10-6 final score. Dan Tischler (So., New York, NY/Horace Mann), who entered the game to close out the eighth inning, sealed the win as he used a fly out to center and a pair of strikeouts to help the Diplomats to their seventh win of the season. At the plate, Milavsky finished two-for-five with two runs scored and an RBI, while O’Reilly was one-for-three with two runs scored and an RBI. Compitello led all batters as he went one-for-four with a run scored and three RBI. For Endicott, Vidmosko was two-for-three with a walk and three RBI, while Joe Orlando was one-for-four with a run scored and two RBI. Ian Parkinson took the loss for Endicott allowing eight runs on nine hits and one walk with a strikeout in 2.1 innings of work. The game marked the first meeting between F&M and Endicott as the Diplomats and Gulls will meet again in a doubleheader on March 19 at Caplan Field. Game one is set for noon.
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