LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall baseball team (16-10, 3-4 CC) came up short in its Centennial Conference (CC) game against Ursinus (17-9, 4-3 CC), 8-6, Tuesday afternoon at Caplan Field. The Diplomats plated six runs in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to two, but the Bears worked out of trouble to maintain the lead.

Ursinus got its offense going early in the game with five runs in the first two innings of play. Meanwhile the Diplomats started slow, only averaging a base runner per inning through the first five frames.

Trailing 8-0 in the bottom of the sixth, F&M began to rally with Tanner Wolpert leading off the frame by getting hit by a pitch. Matt Hollender singled to put two runners on with two outs. A walk to Nick DiGiacomo, followed by Zac Fuscaldo getting hit by a pitch brought home the Diplomats' first run of the game.

Owen Woodward continued the rally by ripping a single to center to score Hollender, trimming the deficit to 8-2. Landon Hallett got hit by a pitch and Vincent Mariniello walked to bring in two more runs, cutting the deficit in half. The Diplomats brought their fifth run of the game home on a double play to get within three of tying the contest. The next batter, Michael von Zuben lined a single to center to reduce the Bears' lead to 8-6. Ursinus got the third out on a grounder to first, leaving a runner stranded to end the frame.

Franklin & Marshall had its best chance of tying in the game in the top of the seventh inning. Hollender and DiGiacomo ripped back-to-back singles to lead off the frame. A sacrifice bunt from Fuscaldo put both runners into scoring position, but Ursinus got two strikeouts on the next two batters to escape the jam.

Hollender and von Zuben led the Diplomats with two hits apiece, while von Zuben recorded F&M's only extra-base hit of the day as he doubled in the first inning.

Luca Marshall (1-2) was tagged with the loss, allowing four earned runs in his start. Will O'Connor and Anders Snow both had solid outings coming out of the bullpen. O'Connor ended his day striking out three and allowing two earned runs in 4.2 innings of work. Snow struck out two and allowed just two hits in 4.1 innings of relief.

Franklin & Marshall looks to split the series when it travels to play Ursinus on Friday at 3:30 p.m.