April 18, 2008

Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. - Shea Moriarty's fourth hit of the afternoon was a walk-off single through the left side that plated Mark Minutaglio, delivering Franklin & Marshall a 4-3 win over Gettysburg in 12 innings on Friday. The win secured the season sweep for F&M and kept the Diplomats winning streak alive, now at eight games.

The streak was a pair of outs away from being over as F&M (17-10, 12-2 CC) trailed the Bullets (14-19, 6-8 CC) 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Rich Gallugi led off the frame reaching on a muffed throw by the Bullets' first baseman. Bill Murray laid down a sacrifice bunt to put Gallugi into scoring position before Minutaglio poked his second triple of the season down the rightfield line to knot it up.

The hit closed the book on Gettysburg's closer, Mike Sweeny, and took the Bullets' starter, Will Kleva, out of the decision after a fine outing. Kleva worked the first eight allowing two earned runs on seven hits while striking out three. He forced F&M into three double plays. Matt Karis (2-3) ultimately absorbed the loss for Gettysburg.

Minutaglio led off the 12th with a single into leftfield. Dan Farnsworth bunted him over to second base. The Bullets opted to walk Gordon Pellegrini aboard to get to the Centennial Conference's Co-Player of the Week, Andrew Hanson. That move paid off in the short run as Hanson grounded out, but he advanced both runners to set the stage for Moriarty.

Moriarty finished the day going 4-for-6 at the plate with a run scored and the game-winning RBI. Minutaglio was 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in a run. Pellegrini and Jason Anderson were both credited with an RBI in the win.

F&M freshman Mike Duranti moved to 4-0 on the season working in relief of Matthew Metsch. Duranti limited the Bullets to a pair of hits over five innings and struck out four. Metsch allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits. He also struck out four batters in his seven innings.

The Diplomats head south on Saturday for a meeting between the Centennial Conference's top two schools. The Diplomats will take on first place Johns Hopkins in a pair at their Homewood Campus. First pitch is slated for 2:30.