LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (17-11, 4-2 CC) split its Centennial Conference (CC) twinbill against McDaniel (15-10, 3-3 CC) Saturday afternoon at Caplan Field. The Diplomats fell in game one, 5-4, before claiming game two, 7-4.

Game 1: McDaniel 5, F&M 4

F&M jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the Green Terror chipped away at the deficit – taking the lead in the top of the eighth to win game one.

The Diplomats broke into the scoring column first in the bottom of the second as Patrick Cettina followed up a Jakob Hoffman double with a home run over the left field fence for his second blast of the season – giving F&M an early 2-0 lead.

F&M continued to add to the lead as Hoffman shot an RBI-single down the left field line in the bottom of the third inning to score Desautels from third. The Diplomats took a 3-0 lead in fourth as Tommy Denlinger doubled to lead off the frame. The third baseman was later hit home on a single from Evan Varga to score the Diplomats' fourth run of the contest.

McDaniel tied the game in the seventh and took a 5-4 lead in the eighth. F&M had a tough time responding to McDaniel's scoring surge as the bats went cold late in the game - only recording two hits in the final five innings of the contest.

Denlinger and Hoffman each tallied a team-leading two hits in game one.

Shane Rebane (2-1) was hit with the loss, striking out two in 1.2 innings of relief. Greg Nieskens had a solid start with five strikeouts and one earned run in 5.1 innings on the mound.

Game 2: F&M 7, McDaniel 4

Three runs in the fourth and two runs in the seventh helped Franklin & Marshall bounce back with a win in game two.

After a bases-loaded walk to Drew Butera gave F&M a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first, the Diplomats added onto the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Butera doubled into left field and Cettina was hit by a pitch to get two runners on base with no outs in the frame. The next batter, Denlinger, laid down a bunt to the third base side of the mound. A throwing error on McDaniel's third baseman allowed both runners to score and Denlinger to advance to second on the play. The senior then advanced to third on a groundout and was later hit home on a sacrifice fly by Desautels to give the Diplomats a 4-0 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Cettina rocketed a triple into center field to leadoff the frame. A single through the left side of the infield from Denlinger scored Cettina to push the hosts' lead to 5-0.

F&M scored its final two runs in the bottom of the seventh as a sacrifice fly from Denlinger scored Bobby Falese from third. Andrew Filippelli punched a single through the left side to score Hoffman - pushing the Diplomats' lead to 7-0.

A solo home run in the eighth followed by three runs in the ninth got McDaniel within three runs of tying the game, but Jason Schulman was able to work out of trouble and close out the win for the Diplomats in game two.

Denlinger and Falese led the game with two hits apiece. Denlinger also posted a team-leading two RBI in the win.

Dan Galef (4-0) was dominant in his outing - striking out eight and allowing no earned runs in seven innings to pick up his fourth win of the year.

Franklin & Marshall begins a home-and-home series on the road against CC foe Ursinus Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.