FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (5-8) erupted for 17 runs through the first three innings en route to a 31-3 win over Western Connecticut State (2-6) Sunday afternoon. With 31 runs and 30 hits, the Diplomats broke the program's single-game runs and hits records in the contest.

F&M got on the scoreboard early in the top of the first as Bobby Falese roped his third triple in two days to drive in two runs. The next batter, Jakob Hoffman, walked and immediately put himself into scoring position by stealing second. A groundout scored Falese and moved Hoffman to third on the next at-bat. Drew Butera singled into center field to plate Hoffman, giving F&M a 4-0 lead through the first frame.

The Diplomats added on in the second as Conner Rush singled to left field, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch to leadoff the inning. Spencer Berson singled down the left field line to score Rush, extending the lead to 5-0. Berson worked his way around to third as Falese singled and stole second to put two runners in scoring position. Hoffman drove in both runners as he ripped a triple into right center field. The next batter, Pat Elliott, followed with a double down the left field line to score Hoffman. Butera hit his second RBI-single of the game as he shot a pitch to right field to score Elliott – giving F&M a 9-0 lead.

After WestConn scored three runs in the bottom of the second, the Diplomats responded with eight of their own after batting around in the top of the third. With Tommy Alexander on second and AJ Desautels at first, Nolan McCloskey ripped a ball through the right side of the infield for a single - scoring Alexander and advancing Desautels to third. Falese and Hoffman drew back-to-back walks to score Desautels and push the lead to 11-3. Elliott doubled to center field to score McCloskey and Falese, while Hoffman was held up at third.

An error in the outfield allowed Patrick Cettina to reach base and move to second, while Hoffman scored and Elliott moved up to third. Tommy Denlinger singled through the left side to score Elliott and move Cettina to third. Two more runs came across for F&M as Desautels singled and McCloskey doubled to grow the lead to 17-3.

Franklin & Marshall pushed across six runs in both the sixth and seventh innings before the game was called after seven frames due to the mercy rule.

F&M's previous single-game runs and hits records were set during the 2018 victory at Ursinus, where the Diplomats scored 26 runs off 25 hits in the win.

10 Diplomats ended the day with multiple hits with Denlinger, McCloskey, and Michael von Zuben leading the way with three hits each. Led by Elliott's four RBI, nine total Diplomats recorded multiple RBI in the win.

Kyle Roche (1-3) earned his first win of the season on the mound as he struck out seven and allowed three earned runs in five innings.

Franklin & Marshall begins a two-game series with Wisconsin Lutheran Monday at noon.