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CARLISLE, PA – Centerfielder Eric Milavsky (Sr., Medford,
NJ/Shawnee) went five-for-nine with three RBI and two runs
scored to lead the Franklin & Marshall College baseball team
to 7-6 and 13-6 victories at Dickinson College in the regular
season finale to clinch home field advantage for the 2006
Centennial Conference Baseball Championships.
The 2005 Centennial Conference champions, the Diplomats will continue the season on May 6-7 at home in Lancaster at Caplan Field as the team will host the 2006 Centennial Conference Championship Tournament for the second consecutive year. Against Dickinson, the Diplomats rallied for a win in a seven-inning game one and rolled to a seven run victory in a nine-inning game two to improve to 26-9, 16-2 in Centennial Conference play. In game one, pinch-hitter Jeff Rowand (Jr., York, PA/Dallastown) lifted a sacrifice fly to rightfield in the top of the seventh to score Corey Caruthers (Sr., Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) for the deciding margin as the Diplomats picked up a 7-6 victory. Tied 6-6 after Dickinson plated four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Caruthers singled off reliever Mark Bilali and moved to second on a walk to Stephen Frederick (Sr., Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) to put two runners on with no outs and bring on reliever Matt Eonta. Following a pop-up, Caruthers and Stephen moved up a base on a wild pitch by Eonta to put two runners in scoring position with an out. Rowand followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Caruthers as the Diplomats picked up their 25th win of the season. F&M jumped out to a 3-0 margin in the second inning against the Red Devils as Frederick launched a homerun to lead off the second inning, Rich Gallugi (So., Peabody, MA/St. John’s Prep) singled and scored on a wild pitch and Milavsky singled to drive in Jon Compitello (Sr., Yardley, PA/George School). Dickinson cut the lead to two runs in the bottom of the inning as the strung together two singles and a stolen base for a run, but the Diplomats added to the margin with two runs on two hits and an error for a 5-1 lead. F&M tacked on a run in the fifth as Caruthers doubled, moved to third on a ground out and scored as Compitello flied out to centerfield for a sacrifice fly and a 6-1 lead. Dickinson rallied to tie the game as the Red Devils plated a run in the bottom of the fifth on a double, a fielding error and a sacrifice fly before getting four runs on four hits and two errors to tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Starting pitcher Ted Serro (Sr., Brooklyn, NY/Xavier) earned
the win for the Diplomats allowing six runs on 10 hits and
two walks with six strikeouts to improve to 6-3 on the year
and 18-8 in his career as he improved upon his own record
for most career wins. Further, his six strikeouts raised his
total to 194 as he remained in third place on the career list,
surpassed Todd Marshall ‘92 for fourth in complete games (11)
and moved to second in innings pitched (205.1).
At the plate, Caruthers led the way going two-for-three with a walk, a double and three runs scored, while Gallugi finished two-for-three with a run scored and an RBI and Milavsky went two-for-five with an RBI. In game two, starting pitcher Jeremy Knox (Sr., Bronx, NY/Iona) went eight innings allowing six runs on 10 hits and an error with nine strikeouts as the Diplomats rolled to their 26th victory of the season in a 13-6 win to clinch the #1 seed. Tied for the all-time career wins record with Serro and the leader in career innings pitched, Knox (18-7) has 211.2 innings in 43 appearances, including 25 starts. Further, he surpassed Dave Stahlman ’04 for sixth in career strikeouts at F&M as he now has 141, tow shy of eclipsing Tim Sheridan ’96 for fifth.
F&M jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two innings of play as Stern scored on a sacrifice fly by O’Reilly in the first inning before Franklin & Marshall plated six runs on six hits in the second inning.
Dickinson cut the lead to 7-5 in the third as the Red Devils registered five runs on six hits and an error, but Franklin & Marshall added a run in the fifth and five in the eighth to take the 13-6 win. At the plate, Milavsky and Billy McGuire (Jr., Chappaqua, NY/Horace Greeley) each finished three-for-four with two runs scored and two RBI, while Pat O’Reilly (So., Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) was one-for-three with three RBI. Franklin & Marshall (26-9, 16-2 Centennial Conference) will continue the season next weekend at home in the Centennial Conference Championship Series. On May 5, 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 5 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. Game one of the Centennial Conference championship series will begin at 3:00 p.m., with games two and three (if necessary) set for noon and approximately 3:00 p.m. starts on May 7.
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