LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (25-15, 12-6 CC) fell in both games of its Centennial Conference doubleheader against No. 1 Johns Hopkins (36-3, 17-1 CC) Tuesday afternoon at Caplan Field. The Diplomats were edged, 4-2, in game one before dropping game two, 15-7.

Game 1: No. 1 Johns Hopkins 4, Franklin & Marshall 2

A three-run third inning put the Blue Jays out in front of the Diplomats as Johns Hopkins was able to hold off Franklin & Marshall in the first game of the doubleheader.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning, AJ Desautels ripped a double down the left field line and later stole third. A sacrifice fly from Bobby Falese plated Desautels to get the Diplomats on the scoreboard.

Down 4-1 in the seventh, Patrick Cettina rocketed a triple to left center field to lead off the frame. The next batter, Drew Butera, brought Cettina home on a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-2. Later in the inning, Evan Varga singled and Desautels walked to get the tying run on first. However, the Blue Jays escaped the jam without further damage.

Desautels led the Diplomats with two hits, followed by Cettina and Varga each tallying one.

Greg Nieskens (4-6) was the losing pitcher in game one, striking out one while allowing two earned runs in 2.2 innings on the mound. Jason Schulman pieced together a solid outing out of the bullpen – striking out four without allowing an earned run through 4.1 innings.

Game 2: No. 1 Johns Hopkins 15, Franklin & Marshall 7

Despite jumping out to a 3-1 lead, the Diplomats gave up 12 runs in the third to drop game two.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Hoffman led off the frame on an error in the infield. The following batter, Cettina, smacked a home run over the left field fence to give the Diplomats a 2-1 lead. The homer was Cettina's third of the season. F&M wasn't done as Matt Hollender doubled and later scored on a single from Pat Elliott to extend the hosts' lead to 3-1.

Free bases plagued F&M in the third as the Blue Jays plated 12 runs on just four hits in the frame. Franklin & Marshall got a run back in the bottom-half of the third on a sacrifice fly from Drew Butera, but the Blue Jays added two more runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 15-4.

The Diplomats' final push came in the bottom of the seventh as Bobby Falese walked and Cettina singled with one out in the frame. Ryan Rodriguez roped a single into center field to score Falese and move Cettina to third. An error on the JHU right fielder during the next at-bat allowed both runners to score - making it a 15-7 game.

Elliott and Hollender led the Diplomats with two hits each in the game. F&M and Johns Hopkins each totaled 11 hits in the contest.

Peter Mullen (1-1) was hit with the loss, striking out two in 2.1 innings on the mound. Luca Marshall pitched well in his relief appearance – striking out five without allowing an earned run through four innings of work.

Franklin & Marshall clinched the No. 2 seed in the Centennial Conference tournament and will host No. 3 seed Dickinson at Caplan Field on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.