The Muhlenberg baseball team rode the pitching of sophomore Timmy Pilrun to an 8-1 win, earning a split of its home Centennial Conference doubleheader with Washington College. The Mules rallied late in the first game but fell short, 6-4.

Pilrun pitched seven superb innings to pick up his fourth win of the season. He faced two batters over the minimum, allowing just a single and a walk, and only one of the runners reached second base. He struck out four and retired the last eight batters he faced.

The offense backed Pilrun with 11 hits, with the first three batters in the lineup - freshmen Chris Grillo and Matt Glubiak and junior John Icaza - all going 3-for-5. Icaza scored the first run of the game after leading off the fourth with a single; he scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman Matt Riebesell.

In the fifth, Grillo singled with one out and came all the way around to score on a chopper through the right side by Glubiak (pictured above) when the throw from the outfield to third base got away.

The Mules (15-15, 6-4) put the game away against the Washington bullpen with two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth. Icaza blasted a two-run double in the seventh and capped the eighth-inning rally with an RBI single. Grillo and Glubiak also drove in runs in the eighth inning, which included two infield errors by the Shoremen (19-8-1, 3-5).

Muhlenberg had just one run on three hits through the first seven innings of the opener and came to bat in the eighth trailing 4-1. The Mules closed to within a run on a two-run, three-base throwing error after Glubiak led off with a single.

Washington, which has received votes in the national polls this season, got the two runs back in the top of the ninth. Muhlenberg loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but the game ended with the tying runs in scoring position.

The Mules finished their stretch of five games in three days in sole possession of fourth place in the CC, two games out of first.