COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- Five home runs later, Franklin & Marshall baseball outlasted Ursinus in a wild one, coming away with an 8-7 victory in extra innings in Centennial Conference (CC) play. The Diplomats (15-10, 6-0 CC) overcame a late three run rally by the Bears (8-15, 1-3 CC) in the seventh and eighth innings, needed an additional out in the ninth on a dropped third strike and an error, got bailed out by a batter reentering play and called out on appeal in the same inning, then put the tying run in scoring position in the tenth.

Spencer Berson and Jakob Hoffman got the first inning off with a bang, as both put solo shots over the fence for a 2-0 lead.

Berson tacked on a second with another blast to left field for a 3-0 lead in the third.

In a sign of the wild finish to come, Ursinus plated two in the bottom half of the inning without recording a hit, while leaving the bases loaded. Jason Schulman got himself into trouble by hitting two batters, then walking a pair that forced in a run to trimmed the lead to 3-2. Schulman punched out the final batter of the inning to avoid disaster.

Jakob Hoffman launched his second over the fence in the next stanza, extending the lead to 4-2.

Schulman again flirted with danger in the fifth, putting a runner on third with just one away. A pop-up to AJ Desautels followed by his seventh strikeout of the game ended the Bears threat.

The Diplomats notched an extra run in the seventh as Spencer Berson reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a groundout, then scored on a deep infield single by Bobby Falese for a 5-2 edge.

Ursinus wouldn't be denied, hitting a two-run blast in the seventh, then taking advantage of an error to plate another in the eighth.

F&M put the winning run on third with one out in the ninth, but left Matt Gluck stranded to finish the inning.

The wild finish started auspiciously enough in the bottom of the ninth, as Charlie Wright got the first two outs without struggle. Wright then got a swinging third strike on a wild pitch, that forced a throw from Conner Rush. The toss to first got away from Rush, putting the winning run on second and forcing the Diplomats to record another out. After plunking a runner to put two on with two down, Ursinus sent a batter to the plate who had been pinch run for in the eighth. Ryan Horning appealed the batter, who was ruled out for the final (and fourth) out of the inning.

The Diplomats took the lead for good in the top of the tenth, as a Hoffman walk and Michael Cole pinch hit single put two on for Drew Butera. Butera promptly deposited one over the left field fence to take an 8-5 lead.

The Bears refused to go quietly, hitting doubles that bookended the first two outs of the inning and put a run on the board. A throwing error from short plated a second run to make it an 8-7 game, before Wright finally got a routine grounder to second to end the madness and give F&M the victory.

F&M's five home runs marked the first time the Diplomats have had that many round-trippers in a game since May 5, 2013. The Diplomats smashed four in the second inning alone during a memorable 16-1 victory over Johns Hopkins in the CC Championship.

Jakob Hoffman led the way with a 4-4 day, knocking in a pair on the home runs. Notably, Hoffman came mere inches from his third dinger, which was ruled foul in the sixth. Spencer Berson and Bobby Falese also had multi-hit games, as Berson crossed home thrice while knocking in a pair on his homers.

Charlie Wright (1-1) picked up the win, pitching two innings and giving up two runs (one earned). Jason Schulman turned in five innings of work, striking out seven, walking three, plunking two, and allowing just two runs (none earned) on two hits.

Dickinson awaits a red hot Diplomat team on Tuesday afternoon, playing host to F&M at 3:30 p.m. in Carlisle.