The Muhlenberg baseball team punched its ticket to the Centennial Conference playoffs with a 4-1 rain-shortened victory at Franklin & Marshall.
 
The Diplomats won the first game of the doubleheader, 5-4, meaning that with a Haverford loss, the Mules (18-17, 10-7 CC) needed a win in either the second game or its final CC game Sunday against Ursinus.
 
The Mules proceeded to score four unanswered runs in the nightcap on its way to locking up their first CC playoff berth in four years and the fifth overall in program history.
 
Muhlenberg started from behind with F&M scoring a first-inning run but stormed back with four unanswered runs. Junior Jon Capra laced a RBI triple to center that scored sophomore Billy Brittingham to begin the comeback in the fourth inning. Sophomore Jack Avallone then plated Capra on a sacrifice fly to give the Mules the lead.
 
Freshman Robert Cappadonna doubled in two insurance runs in the fifth inning, allowing sophomore Brenden Weiss and junior Chris Grillo to score and make it 4-1.

Rain proceeded to delay the game with two outs and a runner on first in the Diplomat half of the fifth inning,. Play later resumed and sophomore Matthew D'Ambrosia struck out the final batter before the game was called after five innings.
 
D'Ambrosia totaled five strikeouts in earning his fifth victory of the season, allowing only four hits and one run in his second complete game of the season.
 
In the first game, F&M also scored the first run in the first inning, but sophomore John Serruto tied the game with an RBI single in the third.
 
The Diplomats added two runs in the third to make it 3-1, but once again, the Mules answered with two runs of their own. Cappadona (pictured above) singled in Grillo in the fifth inning, and Serruto added another RBI single in the seventh to knot the score at 3-3.
 
F&M rallied for two runs in the seventh that proved to be the difference. Muhlenberg got one run back on a RBI groundout by senior Eric Reitmeyer and loaded the bases in the ninth inning. The Diplomats, however, escaped the jam with its lead intact to earn the win.
 
Serruto finished the opening game 4-for-4 with 2 RBI, and Grillo went 2-for-2 with three runs scored. Capra and Cappadona each finished the day with three hits.
 
The Mules can finish in third place in the CC standings with a win against Ursinus Sunday and would face second-seed Johns Hopkins in its first playoff game next week. A loss would pit the Mules against Swarthmore, who clinched top overall seed in the CC playoffs.