The Muhlenberg baseball team mounted a comeback in the first game and came close to another in the nightcap in gaining a Centennial Conference split with McDaniel.
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The Mules (11-16, 4-6 CC) took the first game 4-2 but fell in a close 5-4 defeat in the nightcap. With the split, Muhlenberg sits a game-and-a-half back of fourth-place Franklin & Marshall with two weeks left in the regular season.
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Junior
Chris Grillo led the Mules with five hits, going 3-for-4 with a double in the victory and 2-for-4 in the late game. Sophomore
John Serruto also collected three hits in the first game. Junior
RJ Hennessey pitched eight innings while allowing only one earned run and striking out seven to earn his fourth win of the season.
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The Green Terror (9-11, 3-7 CC) took an early 2-0 lead, but Muhlenberg responded with two runs in the fourth inning. Serruto
(pictured above) doubled to start the rally, and sophomore
Billy Brittingham singled him home two batters later. Junior
Jon Capra added a sacrifice fly to plate junior Matt Reibesell and tie the game at 2-2.
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A walk, Grillo's double and another walk loaded the bases for the Mules in the seventh. Serruto and Riebesell then hit back-to-back singles to bring home the go-ahead run and an insurance run, making it 4-2.
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Hennessey induced a double-play ball to get out of an eighth-inning jam before sophomore
Matthew D'Ambrosia closed out the win by picking a runner off second base with two outs in the ninth. D'Ambrosia earned his third save of the season.
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Muhlenberg matched its first-game run total in the first inning of the late game. Junior
Stephen Koester roped a single to left to plate the first two runs, and Capra followed with a long home run to left, the first of his career.
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The Green Terror (9-11, 3-7 CC) answered with one run in the third inning and four more in the fourth, however, to take the lead.
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Senior
Timmy Pilrun settled in after the fourth inning, retiring 16 of the final 17 batters he faced in order. The Mules put a runner on base in five of their final six turns at the plate but could not push the tying run across.
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The best chance to tie came in the ninth inning, when junior pinch-hitter Kenny Fried lined a ball into the right-field corner with one out and ran to third for his second career triple. The Green Terror closer, however, retired the next two batters to secure the win.
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Pilrun struck out two batters in tossing his first complete game of the season. He now has 152 career strikeouts, good for sixth in Mule history.
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