LANCASTER, Pa. - Alex Guerra pitched eight shutout innings as the Franklin & Marshall baseball team rolled to a 10-0 victory over visiting Gettysburg in Centennial Conference (CC) action on Friday at Caplan Field.

Guerra twirled a four-hit gem throughout his eight innings of work to move to 3-0 on the year and help the Diplomats (12-9, 1-1 CC) split the season series with the Bullets (11-5, 1-1 CC). The sophomore righthander struck out seven batters and walked two, while Brandon Theriault polished things off for F&M with a scoreless ninth inning on the mound.

Will Benenson gave the Diplomats a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third with a two-out, two-RBI double to deep right center field that scored Brian Erb and Aaron Gillette.

The Bullets threatened in the fourth as an Al Posch single and Pat Cody double put two runners in scoring position with just one out, but Guerra came through with a key strikeout, followed by a groundout to third base, to keep the Bullets off the board.

F&M broke things open with a five-run fifth to take a comfortable 7-0 edge. Gillette, Kevin Shields, Connor Devlin and Josh Mendelson each notched RBIs in the frame, while Benenson crossed home plate on a wild pitch as the Diplomats took full advantage of two Gettysburg errors in the inning.

In the sixth, Benenson tacked on an RBI triple down the right field line and Shields tallied his second RBI of the day with a single through the right side to give F&M a 9-0 advantage. Benenson's sacrifice fly in the eighth rounded out the Diplomat scoring.

Benenson recorded a 2-for-3 line with a game-high four RBIs and scored twice, while Gillette went 3-for-3 with an RBI and scored thrice. Shields registered two RBIs, while Mendelson added two hits and an RBI in the victory.

Posch led the Bullets with two hits on the day.

Eric Hungerford (2-2) suffers the loss for the Bullets after pitching 4.2 innings. Hungerford allowed seven runs on six hits while striking out four and walking four.

The Diplomats travel to Johns Hopkins on Saturday for a CC doubleheader beginning at 12:30 pm in Baltimore.

Franklin & Marshall 10, Gettysburg 0 (Mar 30, 2012 at Lancaster, Pa.)
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Gettysburg.......... 000 000 000  -  0  5  3      (11-5, 1-1)
Franklin & Marshall. 002 052 01X  - 10 11  0      (12-9, 1-1)
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Pitchers: Gettysburg - E Hungerford; C Yoda(5); R Stalzer(6); B Norton(7); K Beldoch(8) and C MacDonald; C Fassnacht. Franklin & Marshall - Alex Guerra; Brandon Theriault(9) and Josh Mendelson; Joe Gallitto.

Win-Alex Guerra (3-0) 

Loss-E Hungerford (2-2)