Franklin & Marshall Ranks Among National Leaders in May 1 NCAA Baseball Statistics

by Sports Information
5/3/06

LANCASTER, PA – Pitchers Jeremy Knox (Sr., Bronx, NY/Iona Prep), Ted Serro (Sr., Brooklyn, NY/Xaiver) and Matt Metsch (Fr., East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick), third baseman Gary Kruger (Sr., East Islip, NY/East Islip), second baseman Rob Stern (So., Franklin Lakes, NJ/Indian Hills) and the Franklin & Marshall Diplomats baseball team rank among the national leaders in the May 1 NCAA Baseball Statistics.

As a team, the Diplomats are ranked 13th in earned run average (2.80 ERA), 19th in stolen bases (2.54 per game), 31st in win-loss percentage (74.3%), 69th in batting average (.325), 93rd in double plays (0.83 per game) and 103rd in strikeouts per nine innings (6.5 kpg) for their performance through games of April 30.

Individually, Kruger leads the Diplomats at the plate as he ranks 88th in batting average (.422) and 28th in triples (0.17 per game), while Stern is 77th in batting average (.425).

On the mound, Metsch ranks 10th in earned run average (1.25) and first in win-loss (1.000) as he is 6-0 on the year, while Knox is sixth in victories (nine) as he is 9-1 on the season. In addition, Serro is ranked 37th in ERA (1.71) as he is 6-3 this year.

The Centennial Conference regular season champion, Franklin & Marshall College will seek its third Centennial Conference title this weekend as the Diplomats host the 2006 Centennial Conference playoffs at Caplan Field.

The playoffs will begin on May 5 as third-seed Ursinus College (18-17, 11-7 Centennial Conference) will host fourth-seed Haverford College (20-17, 11-7 Centennial Conference) in a single elimination playoff game at 3:45 p.m. The winner will advance to face second-seed and #18 nationally ranked Johns Hopkins University (28-8-2, 14-3-1 Centennial Conference) at Caplan Field on May 6 at 11:00 a.m. in a single elimination game, before the winner of the game faces the top-seed #13 nationally ranked Diplomats (26-9, 16-2 Centennial Conference) in a best of three series. On May 6, game one of the Centennial Conference championship series will begin at approximately 2:30 p.m., with game two and three (if necessary) set for noon and approximately 3:00 p.m. starts on May 7.

The tournament’s champion will earn the CC’s automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA Division III regional tournament. The NCAA field will be announced on May 14.

Admission is free to all games.