Box Score Box Score
LANCASTER, Pa. – Starting pitcher Andrew Mascis baffled Dickinson's batters throughout Tuesday afternoon in a clutch 7-2 Centennial Conference (CC) win for Franklin & Marshall's baseball team at Caplan Field.
The Diplomats earned their fourth straight CC victory and improved 16-14-2, 9-5-1 CC with just three Conference games remaining, while the Red Devils continued its downward trend at 7-23, 4-11 CC.
Mascis was dominant in eight innings of work, allowing just one earned on a mere two hits and striking out seven batters to improve to 3-2 on the year. Reliever Bobby Gaston tossed a scoreless ninth to seal the win.
The Diplomats' offense plated runs in each of the first four innings, including a Dan Marano RBI single through the left side that scored J.J. Freeman in the bottom half of the first. Andrew Poirier made it a 2-0 game in the second frame when his infield single allowed Kelsey Launi, who led off with a double down the left-field line, to cross home from third.
With runners on second and third and one out on the board in the bottom of the third, Matthew Kann notched a two-RBI single to right field that plated Marano and Freeman and gave F&M a 4-0 edge. Marano struck again in the bottom of the fourth with runners on the corners and two outs, crushing a double to left field that scored Poirier.
A Danny Blugis RBI triple, followed by a Kengo Kawahara RBI single, placed two more runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth and rounded out the Diplomat scoring at 7-0.
Marano continued his torrid stretch of play with a 4-for-5 effort at the plate, notching a pair of doubles, two RBIs and a run scored. The first baseman has hit safely in seven straight and has registered multiple hits in four of the last six contests.
Freeman tallied a 2-for-5 line with two runs scored and Poirier was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Tommy Koide (1-3) was charged with the Dickinson loss after being tagged for four earned on 11 hits in seven innings on the mound.
The Diplomats travel to Carlisle on Friday to close out the series with a doubleheader. Game one of the Conference split begins at 2:00 p.m., while game two will follow shortly after, but will not count as a CC contest.
