Alex Vescera, Franklin & Marshall

Franklin & Marshall is one win away from capturing its first Centennial baseball title since 2006 after Saturday play in the Conference championship tournament. The Diplomats edged Gettysburg in 11 innings and are the tourney's lone unbeatean. Johns Hopkins advanced to Sunday's championship series with dramatic wins over Haverford and the Bullets. The Blue Jays look to become the first team since 2005 to lose on Friday and battle back to win the Centennial crown.

Johns Hopkins 5, Haverford 3
Senior Jeff Lynch belted a three-run go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth to lift the No. 6 Johns Hopkins baseball team to a dramatic 5-3 victory over Haverford in the knockout round of the Centennial Conference playoffs. The Blue Jays keep their conference title hopes alive with the victory, and will play the loser of Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg this afternoon. With two outs and two men on in the bottom of the eighth, Lynch came up to the plate to face pitcher Tommy Bergjans in a premier matchup between arguably the Centennial Conference's two best players. Bergjans had previously retired the Blue Jay first baseman three times in the contest, but Lynch won the ultimate battle after crushing a first-pitch fastball over the left field fence to give Hopkins a 5-3 lead.

Franklin & Marshall 5, Gettysburg 4 (11 innings)
Franklin & Marshall overcame a two-run deficit in the top of the ninth and outlasted Gettysburg 5-4 in a dramatic 11-inning contest on Saturday in the winner's bracket of the Centennial Conference (CC) Baseball Tournament. With the win, F&M (22-17) advances to tomorrow's championship round and sits in the driver's seat, as top-seeded Johns Hopkins, a 9-8 winner over Gettysburg in Saturday afternoon's elimination game, will need to defeat the Diplomats twice to capture the CC crown. Trailing 3-1 heading into the top of the ninth, the Diplomats put together a rally with their backs against the wall. Rob Anderson and Aaron Gillette notched back-to-back singles to lead off the frame, before Avery Attinson laid down a sacrifice bunt that trickled slowly down the third base line and nearly turned into an infield single, but effectively moved Anderson and Gillette into scoring position. Brian Erb then came through with an RBI single to right that scored Anderson to pull the Diplomats within 3-2, and Alex Vescera followed with a clutch two-RBI single that took a high hop over Gettysburg third baseman Nate Simon and bounced into left field, giving F&M a 4-3 edge entering the bottom of the ninth. Gettysburg answered in a thrilling bottom half of the frame to knot the score at 4-4 and send the contest into extra innings. With two outs and runners on first and second, Tommy LeNoir registered an RBI single to left center that allowed Cory Karagjozi to touch home for the tying score. After a scoreless 10th, Vescera again recorded a key hit for F&M as he ripped a one-out single through the left side of the infield in the 11th to put the go-ahead run on the base paths. Matt Mezansky followed Vescera's hit with a hard-fought walk, and Brett Poniros earned a free pass on a hit-by-pitch to load the bags with two outs. The first pitch to Rob Anderson from Bullets' reliever Luke Lawrence was in the dirt and bounced past catcher Cam MacDonald, rolling all the way to the backstop to give Vescera ample time to race home for what would prove to be the winning score.

Johns Hopkins 9, Gettysburg 8 
Sophomore Colin McCarthy hit a first-pitch walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to send the No. 6 Johns Hopkins baseball team to the Centennial Conference championship series Saturday as it defeated Gettysburg, 9-8, in thrilling fashion. The Blue Jays must defeat the Diplomats twice to win the conference title, with the first game beginning at 12 p.m. After Hopkins (35-7) coughed up a two-run lead in the top of the ninth, McCarthy crushed pitcher Luke Lawrence's first pitch over the left field fence to post his first career walk-off homer in a Blue Jay uniform. The dinger completed a wild contest that included six lead changes in the final three innings. With JHU holding an 8-6 advantage heading into the ninth, Al Posch led off the inning with a single through the left side that was promptly followed by a Tom LeNoir single. Adam Weiner then made a huge play at second to turn a double play for the Jays. Just one out away from closing the game, the Bullets' Nick Simon blasted a two-run shot over the right field porch to square the game at eight -- setting the stage for McCarthy's walk-off.