Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

Outstanding starting pitching carried the Muhlenberg baseball team to a doubleheader split with Franklin & Marshall.

Against a Diplomat squad that came in with a Centennial Conference-leading .334 team batting average, senior David Anderson and freshman Timmy Pilrun combined to allow only 11 hits and two earned runs in 13 innings. Anderson pitched into the eighth and got the win in the opener, a 5-2 Mule victory, but Pilrun was a tough-luck loser in the nightcap when F&M took advantage of fielding miscues to win, 6-3.

The twinbill got off to an inauspicious start when the Diplomats (16-7, 5-4) loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the first. But Anderson got out of the jam with a strikeout and a 6-4-3 double play and allowed only one baserunner over the next four innings.

Meanwhile, the Mules (9-12, 4-5) threatened in every inning against the F&M ace, who came in with a 3-0 record and 1.16 ERA. Muhlenberg scored four runs off of him, knocking him out in the fourth.

Senior Brett Rosen hit a two-run single in the first, then led off the third with a triple before scoring on a single by senior Nick Kennedy. Senior Danny Usewick led off the fourth with a double and scored on a single by senior Michael Giordano to make it 4-1.

It was 4-2 in the late innings when Muhlenberg turned to its defense to preserve the lead. Senior Jimmy Cody, who had two doubles, made a diving catch in center with the tying runs in scoring position to end the seventh. In the eighth, Giordano made a nice play at second to get an out while avoiding a baserunner, and Rosen threw out a runner trying to advance from second to third when a pitch ticked off his glove.

After the Mules added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, senior Phillip Balseca worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his third save of the season.

Kennedy had a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 and reaching base on a walk and hit by pitch in his other two plate appearances.

Cody singled in sophomore John Icaza, who had singled and stolen second, with the first run in the third inning of the second game. He preserved the lead in the next half-inning, throwing out a runner at the plate on a shallow fly to center.

F&M finally tied the game on an unearned run in the sixth and went ahead with four in the seventh. The Mules got runs back on an RBI hit by Giordano in the seventh and a solo home run by Rosen (pictured above) in the eighth. The game ended with the tying run at the plate.

Senior Christian Ferlan worked a scoreless inning in each game and has now pitched 13 2/3 inning this season without allowing an earned run.