LANCASTER, PA -- Franklin & Marshall College rightfielder Dan Hanecak (So., Conestoga, PA/Lancaster Catholic) went two-for-four and drove in four runs to lead the Franklin & Marshall College baseball team to a nine run ninth inning and an 11-9 win over Ursinus College in Centennial Conference action.
Ursinus (7-7-2, 2-3 Centennial Conference) jumped on the board in the first inning touching up starting pitcher Scott Solomon (Sr., Birmingham, AL/Mountain Brook) for five runs as the Bears started the inning with three walks to load the bases. After Matt Platco plated two runs with a single, Bret Jenkins blasted a three run home run to leftfield to put the Ursinus up 5-0 with eight innings to play.
Ursinus starting pitcher Ryan Bown mowed the Diplomats down in order in the bottom of the first before the Bears tacked on two more runs in the top of the second inning off a Platco double to give the Bears a 7-0 lead.
Franklin & Marshall cracked the scoring column in the bottom of the inning as Gary Kruger (So., East Islip, NY/East Islip) reached base on a single, stole second and came across the plate on an RBI single by Hanecak to cut the deficit to 7-1.
Solomon settled in on the mound and sawed through the Bears' bats in the third with fly outs to leftfield and rightfield and a groundout to second base.
The game became all F&M in the third as the Diplomats stroked eight hits and plated nine runs to take the lead for good.
Shortstop Chris Smith (So., Fairfax Station, VA/Robinson) led off the inning with a walk tog ignite the rally as second baseman Rob Georgiou (Sr., Tappan, NY/Bergen Catholic) had two singles and catcher Dan Weber (Sr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) drilled a double, single and drove in two runs in the bottom of the third inning as the Diplomats sent 15 batters to the plate in the inning while walking four times to chase Bown.
Ursinus responded in the fifth as Jenkins yanked an offering from Solomon over the fence for a leadoff homerun, but the Diplomats held the damage to one run as the team held a 10-8 lead.
F&M got the run back in the sixth as Kruger struck out but advanced to first on a passed ball by Bears' catcher Jerry Rogers. He later stole second base and moved to third on an error by Ursinus second baseman Victor Rodriguez off a Scott Haft (Jr., Jupiter, FL/Jupiter) ground ball. Following a steal of second by Haft, Corey Caruthers (So., Conestoga, PA/Penn Manor) lofted a sacrifice fly off Ursinus pitcher Rob Caruso to leftfield to score Kruger and advance Haft to third for an 11-8 F&M lead entering the seventh inning.
The Bears challenged in the seventh as Jon Sheppard walked to leadoff the inning. Platco flared a pop-up to short rightfield which fell in front of Hanecak, but the F&M outfielder grabbed the ball on one hop and gunned down Sheppard at second base as reliever EJ Leary (So., Seymour, CT/Seymour) struck out Jenkins looking and Rodriguez swinging to end the inning.
In the eighth, the Bears closed to within two runs as Ted Piotrowicz roped a leadoff homerun off Leary to bring Ursinus to within 11-9 as Leary closed out the inning with three groundouts to finish off three innings of one hit relief in support of Solomon.
Following a scoreless bottom of the eighth for F&M, closer Pete Maki (Sr., Woodbury, CT/Noonewaug) entered the game in the ninth inning and struck out #3 hitter Ryan Regensburg swinging, cleanup hitter Sheppard swinging and Platco looking to end the game.
Offensively, Georgiou and Weber paced the Diplomats as Georgiou went three-for-five on the day with two stolen bases while Weber was two-for-five with a double and two runs batted in.
Overall, F&M dominated the basepaths racking up seven stolen bases as Kruger tallied two, while Kruger, Eric Milavsky (So., Medford, NJ/Shawnee) and Smith each totaled one.
On the mound, Solomon earned the win going five innings while allowing seven hits, eight runs (six earned) and four walks while fanning one to improve to 4-0 on the year with a 6.00 ERA.
For Ursinus, Bown took the loss allowing 10 hits, 10 runs (all earned) and four walks while striking out three in 2.2 innings of work.
Franklin & Marshall (12-8, 4-1 Centennial Conference) will continue the season on April 2 at Ursinus in the second half of the home-and-home series. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m.
