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LANCASTER, PA - For good reason, the expectations were high for this year's Franklin & Marshall baseball team. A group of nine returning seniors from a team that went 25-16 en route to a Centennial Conference championship will do that. Picked to repeat as CC champs by conference coaches, the 2006 Diplomats are in place to make it happen. After Tuesday's 4-1 victory over Haverford in Lancaster, F&M is 17-8 overall and sits a half-game behind Johns Hopkins in the CC with a 7-2 mark. "I feel very good about the team so far," said first-year skipper Bill Walkenbach, who replaced Brett Boretti when he was named head coach at Columbia University. "I knew the expectations were high for this team," added Walkenbach. "These guys expect to win and we're putting ourselves in position to do that. We have a large group of seniors and they are a very important part of our success." Dan Hanecak (Lancaster Catholic) and Corey Caruthers (Penn Manor) are among the group of senior leaders. "We do have high expectations, but we're not letting it get to our heads," said Hanecak. "If we get ahead of ourselves, we may miss something so we just have to take it one step at a time." Hanecak, a right fielder who typically bats sixth, is hitting .310 and leads the team with 13 walks. "Dan's been one of our better clutch hitters this year," said Walkenbach. "He just has a knack for getting hits in big situations. He's done a great job in right field. He plays it as well as anybody." Caruthers, a left fielder who typically bats fifth, carries a .266 batting average, has a pair of homers and has knocked in 14 runs. "Corey has had some tough luck," said Walkenbach. "He's hit some balls as hard as he can hit them, but they are right at somebody or the wind knocks them down. He's one of our best all-around players and it's just a matter of time before he makes his mark." Two of the Dips' biggest bats, meanwhile, belong to third baseman Gary Kruger (team-high .442, three homers, 22 RBI) and middle infielder Rob Stern (.409, 16 RBI). First baseman Pat O'Reilly (.290) leads the club with 23 RBI. Josh Welk, a junior infielder from Lancaster Christian, is hitless in one at-bat for the Diplomats and has also pitched in two games. The strength of the club is on the mound, where seniors Ted Serro and Jeremy Knox anchor a staff Walkenbach calls "probably the deepest in the league." Serro, a righty, is 3-3 with a 2.03 ERA in six starts and has fanned 47 batters in 40 innings. Sunday afternoon, Serro tossed a four-hit shutout in the Diplomats' 2-0 win over Hopkins. "He is a legitimate draft prospect," Walkenbach said of Serro. "He's one of those guys a Division III program will have maybe once every 10-15 years if you're lucky. He's that special of a pitcher." In his final 25 innings of work last year, Serro did not surrender a run and struck out 24 batters. Early this season, in a game against Endicott College, Serro struck out the first eight batters and had a no-hitter through six innings, but was pulled when he reached his early-season pitch limit. "He has a good fastball, a dominant slider and an effective split-finger pitch," said Walkenbach. "He's a very strong competitor and he just knows how to get the job done." Knox, another righty, is 6-1 with a 2.02 ERA in his seven starts, including Tuesday's three-hitter against Haverford. "Our pitching staff has been pretty amazing so far," said Caruthers of the group that boats a 2.91 team ERA. "We have a lot of seniors and we hope to win the conference again. We did that last year and have basically the same guys back, so we're expecting to do it again."
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