LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall closed out the regular season with a 12-4 win over Eastern University on Tuesday. The Diplomats (21-16) did the bulk of the damage over the final three innings.

The Eagles (10-18) knotted the game at 3-3 in the top of the sixth, but F&M rallied for four of their own in the bottom half. Zach Honecker led off the inning with a double and made his way over to third on a balk. J.T. Triantos hit a sacrifice fly to center put the Diplomats ahead 4-3. Triantos drove in five of the Diplomats' runs in the contest.

With the bases loaded later in the inning, Connor Devlin ripped a single into rightfield to plate a pair, putting F&M up 6-3. Eric Bornstein brought Honecker home with another sacrifice fly to make it 7-3.

The Diplomats tacked on insurance runs in the seventh and eight. Triantos drove in one of the three in the seventh and drove in both in the eighth with a double, his only hit of the afternoon. He went one-for-three.

Devlin and Russell Tischler each went two-for-three and drove in two. Bornstein was two-for-four with an RBI and scored twice. The Diplomats put up 13 hits and drew 11 walks. Matt Will drew a pair of the walks, wore a pitch, and got on board with a hit during the win.

The Diplomats built their first lead behind Bobby Hayes. The senior worked five scoreless innings and was only threatened once. Hayes faced designated hitter, Joel Rios with loaded bases and an out on the board. Hayes won the battle, forcing a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. All three batters had reached on a walk. They were the only three Hayes issued in the game.

Will Colombo (1-0) took the decision in allowing Eastern to tie it up in the sixth, his only inning of work.

The Diplomats return to action on Friday afternoon at Haverford in the opening round of the Centennial Conference Championships. Play moves onto Johns Hopkins on Saturday morning.

Franklin & Marshall 12, Eastern 4 (Apr 26, 2011 at Lancaster, Pa.)

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Eastern............. 000 003 001  -  4  8  1      (10-18)

Franklin & Marshall. 020 014 32X  - 12 13  1      (21-16)

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Pitchers: Eastern - Nick Moeltner; Jim Edelman(2); Lucas Huber(3); Pat Mognotta(5); Ben Malendez(6); George Cruz(7); John Taylor(7) and Derek Ryan; Eric Smith. Franklin & Marshall - Bobby Hayes; Will Colombo(6); Collin McCune(7); Rob Anderson(8); Michael Morgenstern(9) and Josh Mendelson; Patrick Andrews.

Win-Will Colombo(1-0)  Loss-Ben Malendez(0-1)  T-6:53  A-37

Weather: Nice

G. Cruz faced 3 batters in the 7th.