Two walkoff singles by Ryans gave the Muhlenberg baseball team a dramatic doubleheader sweep of Gettysburg.

A two-out single by junior Ryan Riccio in the bottom of the ninth gave the Mules an 8-7 win in the opener, and a two-out single by junior Ryan Friesen in the 10th capped the day with a 4-3 win in the nightcap.

It was the first time in 46 years that Muhlenberg won both games of a doubleheader in walkoff fashion. In 1977, the Mules walked off Western Maryland (now known as McDaniel) 9-8 in eight innings in the first game and 5-4 in seven innings in the second game. They also walked off twice against F&M in 1975, but in neither of those twinbills did both walkoffs come on two-out hits. 

More importantly, the two wins gave Muhlenberg (11-13-1, 4-2) a 3-1 record in its first full week of Centennial Conference games and their best six-game start in the CC since 2016.

The Mules got outstanding starting pitching in both games. In the opener, senior Quinn Rovner worked into the seventh inning, allowing only five hits and one earned run. He left with a 4-2 lead, but the Bullets (14-13, 1-5) scored twice in the eight and three times in the ninth to take a 7-5 lead. 

Senior Christian Schwarz led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and went to second one out later on a single by sophomore Brendan Hughes. A flyout to center put Gettysburg one out away from stealing the win, but Friesen doubled over the head of the left fielder to bring in both runners and tie the game.

The next batter, Riccio, had entered the game on defense in the ninth. He threw out a runner trying to score from left field - with the help of a strong relay throw from junior shortstop Jonathan Toth - in the top of the inning. In his first at-bat, he jumped on the first pitch he saw and lined it over the head of the third baseman. Junior Jonathan Suero, pinch-running for Friesen at second, wheeled around third and slid into home safely with the winning run.

Hughes, junior Jack Kent and senior Caleb Tereska each had three hits for the Mules in the opener. 

In the second game, sophomore Jayden Barroqueiro worked a career-high eight innings, striking out 10. Coming on the heels of his 11-strikeout performance against McDaniel last Saturday, it made him the first Muhlenberg pitcher ever to fan 10 or more in back-to-back CC starts.

On the second-to-last batter he faced, however, Barroqueiro gave up a two-run single that put Gettysburg in front, 3-2.

Tereska doubled with one out in the eighth, went to third on a wild pitch and scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Friesen (pictured above).

Friesen, the Mule catcher, threw out a Gettysburg runner trying to steal in the top of the ninth. Senior Jake Swerdloff led off the bottom of the ninth with a double but was stranded at second, and the game went into extra innings.

Hughes set the Bullets down 1-2-3 in the top of the 10th. Toth took a close 3-2 pitch to walk leading off the bottom of the 10th and went to second on a sacrifice by Hughes. One out later, Friesen hit a sharp single up the middle, and Toth scored standing up to complete the sweep.

Tereska, Friesen and sophomore Aidan Legner each had two hits in the nightcap.

Ten of the last 14 games between Muhlenberg and Gettysburg have been decided by one run.