CHESTERTOWN, Md. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (15-16, 7-4 CC) registered a season-high 22 hits in its 24-9 victory at Washington College (8-25, 3-9 CC) Friday afternoon to split its season series with the Shoremen. Michael von Zuben led the Diplomats batting 5-for-6 to tie for the second-most amount of hits in the F&M single-game record books. Von Zuben finished just one hit shy of tying Dan Marano '19 for the program record as Marano batted a perfect 6-for-6 in the Diplomats' 15-11 win against Drew during the 2018 season.

The Diplomats got the scoring started in the top of the first as Spencer Berson walked and advanced to third on a hit by von Zuben to put runners at the corners with no outs. Berson was then brought home on a groundout to give F&M a 1-0 lead.

The Shoremen responded with four runs in the bottom of the first and two runs in the second to jump ahead, 6-1, after two innings.

F&M didn't back down as they had a monster top of the third inning with 10 runs coming into score to give the Diplomats a comfortable 11-6 lead. Patrick Cettina led off the frame with an infield single and proceeded to steal second on the next at-bat. A wild pitch that was followed by a walk to Bobby Falese placed runners at the corners for von Zuben to rope a single into right field, scoring Cettina. Jakob Hoffman then drove a double into center field to plate Falese and cut the deficit in half. Drew Butera got the Diplomats within one as he laced a two-RBI double into left field to make the score, 6-5. Back-to-back singles from AJ Desautels and Andrew Filippelli allowed Butera to score and tie the game.

After Washington College made a move to the bullpen, F&M regained the lead on an RBI-single into center field by Evan Varga to make the score 7-6. The Diplomats would add insurance on a wild pitch that scored Filippelli and later a three-RBI double from von Zuben.

The Shoremen got a run back in the bottom of the third to make the score 12-7, but F&M quickly responded in the fourth as Desautels shot a home run down the left field line for his second of the season. The Diplomats continued to pile on as Filippelli and Varga both walked to set up a two-RBI double from Berson to push the lead to 14-7. A single from von Zuben put F&M ahead by eight runs as the inning came to a close.

After taking an 18-7 lead through five innings, F&M continued its dominance in the top of the sixth as Hoffman led off the frame by blasting his fifth home run of the year. The homer is also the 19th of Hoffman's career, which is the most in program history. An RBI-single from Varga later in the inning pushed the Diplomats lead to 20-7.

With the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Butera smacked a home run for his second grand slam of the season and fifth home run of the year to improve F&M's lead to 24-7.

Franklin & Marshall tallied 22 hits in the game to set a new season-high. In addition to von Zuben's five hits, Desautels recorded four and Butera registered three in the win. Butera led the game with six RBI to finish one-shy of tying the single-game program record, while von Zuben recorded five RBI in the victory. The Diplomats also notched seven doubles in the contest.

Dan Galef (4-3) earned his fourth win of the season as he struck out three in six innings of work. Tanner Wolpert ended the game out of the bullpen, tossing two strikeouts in his one inning of relief.

Franklin & Marshall returns home to Caplan Field to host Haverford for Senior Day on Saturday with the doubleheader beginning at noon.