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BOYERTOWN, PA -Designated hitter Jon Compitello (Sr., Yardley,
PA/George School) went two-for-four with four runs batted
in as fifth seed and Centennial Conference champion Franklin
& Marshall College slugged 17 hits and plated 14 runs to defeat
fourth seed and Pennsylvania Athletic Conference runner-up
Gwynedd-Mercy College 14-1 in the first game of the 2006 NCAA
Baseball Mid-Atlantic Regional hosted by Alvernia College
and the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference at Boyertown's Bear
Stadium.
Courtesy the victory, Franklin & Marshall (29-9) will continue
the tournament at 8:00 p.m. tonight as the Diplomats will
face top seed and #1 nationally ranked The College of New
Jersey.
Senior right-hander Jeremy Knox (Sr., Bronx, NY/Iona Prep)
will take the mound for the Diplomats looking to avenge his
only loss of the season as Knox (10-1) took the loss in an
8-4 defeat at the hands of the Lions in Lancaster on March
24.
Against the Griffins (31-14), starter Ted Serro (Sr., Brooklyn,
NY/Xavier) went seven innings allowing one run on four hits
with a strikeout as he improved to 8-3 on the season with
79 strikeouts in 79 innings and 20-8 for his career with 210
strikeouts in 213.1 innings of work.
The Diplomats jumped out to a 2-0 lead against starting pitcher
Sean Middleton for all Serro and the Franklin & Marshall bullpen
would need as Stephen Frederick (Sr., Downingtown, PA/Downingtown)
reached on a fielding error in leftfield and advanced to second
base. Rich Gallugi (So., Peabody, MA/St. John's Prep) doubled
to drive in Frederick and Compitello singled to knock in Gallugi
with the winning run.
Gwynedd-Mercy halved the lead in the bottom of the fourth
as Troy Peiffer singled to right field and advanced to third
base on a pair of ground outs. Ryan McMahon singled to centerfield
to drive home Peiffer to trim the Diplomats' lead to 2-1,
but Serro worked out of the inning by getting Matt Martin
to ground out to shortstop to keep the Diplomats ahead.
Facing reliever Kevin Dronson, Franklin & Marshall pushed
the margin back to a pair of runs as Tom Miller (So., York,
PA/Central York) walked and Eric Milavsky (Sr., Medford, NJ/Shawnee)
singled down the right field line to put runners on the corners.
Rob Stern (So., Franklin Lakes, NJ/Indian Hills) roped a double
to centerfield to drive in Miller, while Milavsky was gunned
down at the plate for a 3-1 F&M lead.
F&M pushed the lead out to 7-1 in the sixth with four runs
before tacking on two runs in the seventh and ninth innings
and three in the eighth for the 14-1 final score.
Matt Kalos (So., Melrose Park, PA/Cheltenham) pitched the
eighth for F&M allowing one hit, while Dan Tischler (So.,
New York, NY/Horace Mann) hurled the ninth allowing two hits
with a pair of strikeouts.
At the plate, Milavsky finished three-for-five with two runs
scored and a pair of RBI, while Gary Kruger (Sr., East Islip,
NY/East Islip) was three-for-six with two runs scored, two
RBI and a pair of doubles.
Pat O'Reilly (So., Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) added a three-for-five
performance with a run scored and an RBI, while Frederick
tacked on a one-for-three performance at the plate as he scored
four runs, drive in a run and was hit twice by pitches.
For Gwynedd-Mercy, Middleton took the loss allowing two runs
in two innings as the Griffins used eight pitchers in the
game and allowed six walks with a strikeout. At the plate,
Gwynedd smashed seven hits as seven different Griffins recorded
hits.
A radio broadcast of tonight's F&M-TCNJ game is available
online at www.1370wpaz.com
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