LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (12-6) fell to Elizabethtown (13-4), 18-6, in seven innings during Thursday afternoon's non-conference clash at Caplan Field. The Blue Jays jumped in front early and didn't look back, leading wire-to-wire in the contest.

After Elizabethtown scored four runs on five hits in the top of the first, F&M went to work on offense in the bottom-half of the frame. Nolan McCloskey worked a five-pitch walk to leadoff the inning. The Blue Jays struck out two-consecutive batters, but Matt Hollender crushed a double into left center to score McCloskey and reduce the deficit to 4-1.

The visitors added a run in the top of the second, but F&M came back with two runs of the their own. Nick Lorenzo earned a two-out walk to extend the inning. Tommy Truzzolino and McCloskey recorded back-to-back singles to bring home Lorenzo to get the Diplomats within three. The next batter, Michael von Zuben singled through the left side of the infield to score Truzzolino and cut the deficit to 5-3.

Elizabethtown tallied one run in the third and two runs in the fourth to take an 8-3 advantage in the game. In the bottom of the fourth, the Diplomats worked the bases loaded on three-straight walks for von Zuben to rip a two-RBI single up the middle to get the home team within three. Walks to Hollender and Nick DiGiacomo allowed McCloskey to score, reducing the Etown lead to 8-6.

Four runs in the sixth and six runs in the seventh inning allowed the Blue Jays to secure the run-rule victory over the Diplomats.

Von Zuben led Franklin & Marshall with two hits and three RBI in the game. McCloskey and Truzzolino recorded two runs scored each in the contest.

Will O'Connor (2-1) was tagged with the loss, striking out two and allowing five earned runs in 3.0 innings pitched.

Franklin & Marshall hits the road to begin Centennial Conference (CC) play on Saturday, taking on No. 4 Johns Hopkins in a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m.