|
LANCASTER, PA – Franklin & Marshall College third baseman Gary Kruger (Sr., East Islip, NY/East Islip) went two-for-three with a run scored and three RBI, but The College of New Jersey used three runs in the third and fifth innings to outlast the Diplomats 8-4 in non-conference baseball action at Caplan Field. A matchup of 2005 NCAA Regional qualifiers as the Diplomats (9-4, 0-0 CC) won the Centennial Conference and TCNJ (11-0, 0-0 NJAC) captured the New Jersey Athletic Conference crown last year, the contest featured 19 strikeouts as the pitching staffs dueled for nine innings. The Lions jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning as Dan Czepiga walked and stole second with one out. Gerard Haran drove Czepiga in with a single before F&M starting pitcher Jeremy Knox (Sr., Bronx, NY/Xavier) fanned Blake Bullis and got Chris Wilson to fly out to left field to end the inning. Franklin & Marshall tied the game in the bottom of the first as Eric Milavsky (Sr., Medford, NJ/Shawnee) walked to lead off the Diplomats’ batters and stole second base. Rob Stern (So., Franklin Lakes, NJ/Indian Hills) grounded out to first base to advance Milavsky to third base and Pat O’Reilly (So., Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) walked to put runners on the corners with one out. Kruger lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Milavsky and O’Reilly stole second base, but TCNJ starting pitcher Mike Oliver recorded the first of 10 strikeouts as he hit the corner of the plate to get out of the inning. The College of New Jersey regained the lead in the second inning as Rich Kropp singled down the left field line and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mike Bruschini. PJ Anzelone walked and Matt Zonies hit into a fielders choice as Anzelone was forced at second base, but the throw to first base to complete a double play by shortstop Tom Miller (So., York, PA/Central York) sailed to the fence to allow Kropp to score. TCNJ tacked on three runs in the third inning off reliever Rich Goman (So., Verona, NJ/Verona) to go in front 5-1 as Haran doubled down the left field line with one out. Bullis grounded back to the mound for the second out of the inning, but Wilson singled to left field to drive in Haran. Kropp walked to put runners on first and second before Bruschini doubled down the right field line to score Wilson and Kropp for a four run lead. F&M cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the inning with two outs as Stern singled to center field and stole second base. O’Reilly walked to put two runners on and bring Kruger to the plate who roped a two run triple to left field to trim the margin to 5-3. Kruger came into score a few pitches later on a fielding error to pull the Diplomats to within 5-4. However, the Lions roared back for three runs in the sixth as pinch hitter Tom Grohs singled to right field and Zonies singled to left field. Charles Iacono laid down a sacrifice bunt to load the bases, but Goman overthrow first base attempting to gun down Iacono to allow Grohs to score and the other runners to move up a base. Czepiga ground out to second base for the first out of the inning and Haran was intentionally walked to load the bases. Bullis flied out to right field to allow Zonies to score and Iacono to move up to third base. The Lions tacked on their third run as Haran stole second base and Iacono stole home for an 8-4 lead. Franklin & Marshall had a chance to cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Dan Hanecak (Sr., Conestoga, PA/Lancaster Catholic) singled and stole second base with one out, but Oliver struck out Jon Compitello (Sr., Yardley, PA/George School) looking and fanned Stephen Frederick (Sr., Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) to get out of the inning. The Lions and Diplomats pitching staffs dueled the rest of the way allowing three hits over the final three innings as The College of New Jersey improved to 8-2 all-time against the Diplomats. Overall, Oliver and reliever Ryan Casey struck out 13 Diplomats in the game, including 10 batters in six innings by Oliver, while Knox (3), Goman (2) and Rob Zeigler (Fr., Swarthmore, PA/Strath Haven) K’d six Lions. The story of the game was pitch location as The College of New Jersey recorded nine strikeouts looking, including the third out in the third inning, all three outs in the fourth, the third out in the fifth and the first two outs of the sixth inning. Franklin & Marshall (9-4, 0-0 Centennial Conference) will continue the season on March 25 in a doubleheader at Rowan University. Game one is set for noon.
|
