Box Score

It didn't have any impact on the Matte Award race or the Centennial Conference playoff race, but a 13-5 win over local rival Moravian was a good boost of confidence for the Muhlenberg baseball team.

The Mules (11-13) overcame an early three-run deficit with seven runs in the second en route to a season high in runs. Outfielders Jimmy Cody, Nick Plinio and John Icaza combined to 7-for-11 with four extra-base hits and eight RBI.

In the midst of tight conference playoff races and facing important games this weekend, both teams went deep into their staffs. Muhlenberg threw three pitchers who made their first appearance of the season - junior Andrew Oakes, senior Matthew Clarke and freshman Sam Kasten - and they combined to hold the Greyhounds (12-15) to one run and five hits over the final five innings. Oakes (pictured above), who pitched one inning as a freshman and missed all of last year with an injury, earned his first career win with three scoreless innings.

Moravian scored three runs in the top of the first to grab an early lead. The Mules got one back in the bottom of the inning on a wild pitch, then sent 11 batters to the plate in the second. An infield single by freshman Eric Reitmeyer brought in the first run, and Cody gave Muhlenberg its first lead by lacing a two-run double. Senior Brett Rosen followed with hard ground ball that was booted at shortstop as two more runs scored.

Icaza's double down the left-field line brought in Rosen with the sixth run of the inning. Plinio, who began the big frame by getting hit by a pitch, drove Icaza in with a hard line drive past the third baseman.
 

Plinio's third home run of the season - a no-doubt-about-it shot to left - capped a three-run fourth that began with a triple by Cody, who has five extra-base hits in the last four games and a team-leading 14 for the season.

Icaza drove in the final two runs with a line single to center in the sixth.

Muhlenberg has already clinched the Matte Award for the 2014-15 season. The baseball win extended the Mules' lead to 9½-2½ with men's and women's track and field and men's and women's tennis still to be contested.