FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (7-8) pushed past Wisconsin Lutheran (0-5), 9-3, in game two of its two-game series with the Warriors Tuesday afternoon at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic. WLC cut F&M's lead to 5-3 through six innings, but the Diplomats plated a combined four runs and kept the Warriors off the scoreboard in the final three frames to attain the sweep.

Holding a two-run lead in the bottom of the sixth, F&M loaded the bases on a walk to Spencer Berson with two outs. A passed ball on the following at-bat brought home Conner Rush from third to extend the lead to 6-3.

Wisconsin Lutheran worked the tying run to the plate in the top of the eighth as the Warriors tallied two singles in the frame. With two outs, WLC's left fielder Henry Strupp lined a ball destined for the left center field gap. Berson denied the ball from hitting the ground as the junior fully extended to make a diving catch – extinguishing the scoring threat.

F&M broke into the scoring column first in the contest as it plated two runs in the bottom of the third inning. AJ Desautels led off the inning with a walk and later stole second. Berson reached on an infield error and advanced to second as the ball got away from the WLC first baseman. With two runners in scoring position, Bobby Falese skied a ball to right field for a sacrifice fly as Desautels scored. After Berson moved to third on a groundout, Tommy Denlinger hit an infield single to score the center fielder – giving the Diplomats a 2-0 advantage.

The Diplomats added on in the bottom of the fourth as F&M loaded the bases with one out. Falese roped a single through the middle of infield to score Ryan Rodriguez and Desautels on the play to push the lead to 4-0.

The Warriors scored two in the top of the fifth, but F&M responded with one in the bottom of the frame as Rush scored on a fielding error to push the Diplomats' lead to 5-2.

Leading 6-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Franklin & Marshall added three more runs to seal the sweep over WLC. With the bases loaded, Rush singled through the left side of the infield to score Drew Butera and Denlinger while Andrew Filippelli advanced to second. After a passed ball moved both runners into scoring position, Jakob Hoffman hit a ball deep enough to allow Filippelli to score on the sacrifice fly.

Rush led the Diplomats with three hits, while Denlinger and Filippelli tallied two each. Falese led the team in RBI with three in the game. F&M stole six bases in the win with Butera and Desautels swiping two each.

Kiernan Keller (1-0) picked up his first career victory as he struck out one and allowed one earned run in 1.2 innings of relief. Thomas McLaughlin claimed his second save of the season, striking out four while not allowing an earned run through three innings. Bijan Anvar was solid in his first career start on the mound, striking out seven while allowing only one hit in four innings of work.

Franklin & Marshall gets a rest day tomorrow before jumping back into action against Wisconsin-Stout Thursday at 9:00 a.m.