LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (13-8, 1-2 CC) earned its first Centennial Conference (CC) win of the season as it defeated Haverford (7-12, 1-2 CC), 15-11, Tuesday afternoon at Penn Medicine Park. The Fords surged late with six runs in the final three innings, but a three-run eighth inning secured the victory for F&M.

Haverford took an early edge with four runs in the first two innings, but F&M exploded for eight runs of their own in the bottom-half of the frame to overtake the Fords on the scoreboard. The Diplomats loaded the bases with no outs for Owen Woodward to leg out an infield single for F&M's first run of the game. Michael von Zuben followed with a single of his own to score Nolan McCloskey and cut the deficit in half. The next batter, Matt Hollender laced a grand slam over the right field wall to give the Diplomats a 6-4 lead. The homer was Hollender's fourth of the season and the first grand slam of his career.

The Diplomats weren't finished yet as Gideon Schwartz and Nick Lorenzo hit back-to-back singles with one out in the frame. Landon Hallett ripped a double into right field to score Schwartz and move Lorenzo to third as F&M took a three-run lead. Lorenzo later came home on a wild pitch to extend the Diplomats' lead to 8-4.

Haverford plated a run in the top of the fifth, but Franklin & Marshall continued to pull away in the bottom-half of the inning. Von Zuben singled, followed by Hollender earning a walk to put two runners on with one out. Schwartz lined a double into left field to score both runners and increase the lead to 10-5. The inning continued with Lorenzo earning a walk, followed by a wild pitch putting both runners into scoring position with two outs. Hallett brought both runners home with a two-RBI single up the middle of the infield to push the lead to 12-5.

The Fords began to chip away at the deficit with three runs in the seventh and two runs in the eighth to trail F&M by just two runs entering the bottom-half of the eighth inning. Three walks loaded the bases for Tommy Truzzolino to single through the left side of the infield, plating a runner and increasing the lead to 13-10. Woodward followed with a two-RBI double to left field to cushion F&M's advantage as 15-10.

Haverford scored a run in the top of the ninth, but left two runners stranded as Chris Keating got the third out on a groundout to Enrico Tufano to end the game.

Five Diplomats recorded multi-hit games with Hallett and Woodward finishing the contest with two hits and three RBI each. F&M also earned 14 walks in the game with Hollender tallying a game-high three walks in the win.

Will O'Connor (3-1) was the winning pitcher in the contest, striking out two and allowing one earned run in 4.0 innings of relief.

Franklin & Marshall looks to sweep the Fords in the season series as it travels to Haverford on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.