Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior Drew Felsenthal (Mount Kisco, N.Y./Horace Greeley) threw seven scoreless innings while classmate Nate Simon (Gwynedd Valley, Pa./Abington Friends School) finished 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs as the Gettysburg College baseball team ran its winning streak to 12, blanking Franklin & Marshall College 11-0 in the Centennial Conference (CC) opener for both teams Tuesday afternoon at Kirchhoff Field.
 
The Bullets (15-3, 1-0 CC) snapped a four-game losing streak to F&M, the defending conference champions who defeated Gettysburg three times last season, including once in the CC playoffs. The Bullets also continued their longest winning streak since a 14-gamer in 1930 and their best start since opening 15-3 in 2007.
 
The Orange and Blue pounded out six extra-base hits, including two doubles apiece from Simon and senior Al Posch (Hopedale, Mass./Hopedale), who went 2-for-4 with three runs. Junior Scott Zanghellini (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs while stretching his hitting streak to 11, and senior Tommy LeNoir (Bear, Del./Red Lion Christian Academy) added three runs and two RBIs.
 
Will Benenson went 3-for-4 to lead Franklin & Marshall (8-10, 0-1 CC).
 
Gettysburg supplied Felsenthal with all the run support he would need when they pushed across one run in the bottom of the first against Alex Guera, who entered the game 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA. Posch drew a two-out walk before scoring from first when Simon laced a double over the centerfielder's head.
 
The Bullets opened up some breathing room with a four-run fifth. Senior Patrick O'Grady (Floral Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) reached on a one-out error before scoring from first on a ringing double to left from Posch. Simon was intentionally walked before LeNoir blasted a triple into the left-center gap, making it 4-0. Two batters later, Zanghellini dumped a single into right, scoring LeNoir.
 
Felsenthal, in the meantime, was in control, and through the first four innings did not allow a runner to reach second. He retired 13 of the first 15 batters he faced before running into a jam in the fifth, when the Diplomats put runners on first and second following a hit batsman and walk. But Felsenthal (4-1) got out of it with a strikeout.
 
F&M threatened again in the sixth, putting runners on the corners after back-to-back two-out singles from Benenson and David Iacobucci. But Felsenthal escaped again, this time with a groundout. He would go on to retire the side in the seventh and for the day allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out six. His victory pushed his career record to 17-4 as he moved into a tie for fifth in school history in career wins.
 
Leading 5-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the Bullets settled any doubt with three runs apiece in each of their final two innings at bat. Senior Ben Roessle (Summit, N.J./Summit) highlighted the seventh with a two-run single against reliever Chris Mathewson before Simon, junior Mike Kielbasa (Ludlow, Mass./Loomis Chaffee School), and Zanghellini stroked RBI-singles in the eight against Gareth Fancher.
 
Sophomore Luke Lawrence (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) worked the final two innings on the mound for the Bullets and scattered three hits while striking out one.
 
Guerra (3-1) was charged with the loss, yielding six runs (four earned) on six hits and four walks.
 
The two teams complete their season series on Friday when they meet at Franklin & Marshall in another nine-inning game starting at 3:30 p.m.