Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall scored five late runs to erase a 7-3 deficit and the host Diplomats rallied past Gettysburg 8-7 Tuesday afternoon in Centennial Conference baseball action.

Junior Austin Davis (New York, N.Y./Riverdale Country School) finished 4-for-6 with three runs to lead Gettysburg (14-7, 2-1 CC), which outhit F&M 14-10 but left 13 runners on base. Senior Pat Cody (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge) went 2-for-4 with three RBIs while juniors Al Posch (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale), Tommy LeNoir (Bear, Del./Red Lion Christian Academy), and Ben Roessle (Summit, N.J./Summit) all added two hits apiece for the Bullets, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.

After tying the game with four runs in the bottom of the seventh, F&M (11-10, 2-1 CC) scored what held up as the game-winning run when Aaron Gillette lifted a sacrifice fly against Bullet reliever Kyle Beldoch (Leonia, N.J./Leonia), who entered the game with runners on second and third. Beldoch got the final out, and Gettysburg put the tying run on second with two outs in the top of the ninth when junior Patrick O'Grady (Floral Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) led off with a walk and reached second on a groundout. But Alex Vescera recorded the final out to pick up the save.

Reliever Chris Matthewson (2-1) held the Bullets to one run over 4 1/3 innings to earn the win while freshman Luke Lawrence (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) was charged with the loss.

The Bullets broke out to a 4-0 lead in the third, highlighted by a two-run double from Cody, against F&M starter Alex Guerra.

Sophomore starter Eric Hungerford (New Preston, Conn./Shepaug Valley) blanked the Diplomats over the first 2 1/3 innings, extending his consecutive scoreless inning streak to 22 2/3, which ranks fourth in Centennial Conference history. But the Diplomats ended the streak with three runs in the bottom of the frame to make it 4-3. However, the Bullets pushed across a pair of unearned runs in the fourth to chase Guerra. Junior Ben Roessle (Summit, N.J./Summit) capped the inning with an RBI-double, making it 6-3.

Gettysburg added its final run in the fifth, when Davis reached on an infield single and went on to score on an error.

Hungerford carried a 7-3 lead into the seventh but was removed with two outs and the bases loaded. After back-to-back-walks and a catcher's interference call, Lawrence (2-2) was summoned out of the bullpen. Cleanup hitter Kevin Shields singled before Matt Mezansky cleared the bases with a double down the rightfield line to tie it at 7-7.

The Bullets also had a runner on second with two outs in the eighth, when Cody led off with a single before moving up on a groundout. But Mathewson escaped with a lineout to center.

In the F&M ninth, Joe Gallitto led off with a single before Pat Andrews was hit with a pitch. No. 9 hitter Brian Erb bunted the runners to second and third before Gillette's go-ahead sac fly.

Gettysburg continues its season on Wednesday, when it hosts Penn State-York in a non-conference game beginning at 3:30 p.m.