LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (19-20, 11-7 CC) fell in the opening round of the Centennial Conference (CC) Tournament, 3-2, to Haverford (22-14, 11-7 CC) Tuesday afternoon at Caplan Field. The Fords jumped out to a 3-0 lead early, but a two-run sixth inning got the Diplomats within a run of tying the game. Despite keeping Haverford hitless in the final four innings, the Diplomats' offense couldn't push across the tying run.

Down by three in the bottom of the sixth, Michael von Zuben led off the frame with a walk. After a deep fly out allowed von Zuben to tag up and advance to second, a single from Drew Butera brought the sophomore home for F&M's first run of the game. A walk to AJ Desautels and an infield single from Matt Hollender loaded the bases with one out in the inning. The next batter, Andrew Filippelli was then hit by a pitch to plate Butera to get the Diplomats within one. However, the Fords forced a strikeout and a fly out to escape further damage.

The Diplomats had one last threat in the bottom of the eighth as Hollender got on base by ripping a one-out double into the left center field gap. Jackson Hyman came in to pinch run and immediately showed off his speed as he was able to advance to third on a fly out to center field. With two outs in the inning, Haverford got the next batter to ground out – extinguishing F&M's scoring chance.

Hollender led the Diplomats, hitting 3-for-4 with two doubles in the contest. Jakob Hoffman closely followed with two hits, including a double in the bottom of the second inning.

Kiernan Keller (1-4) was tagged with the loss in his start, allowing two earned runs in his one inning on the mound. Out of the bullpen, Dan Galef struck out three and allowed just one earned run in 5.2 innings of relief. Thomas McLaughlin shut down Haverford in the final 2.1 innings as he struck out two and didn't allow a baserunner in his outing.

Franklin & Marshall concludes the season with a 19-20 overall record and 11-7 CC record.