Baseball Blanks Mules, Closes In on Playoffs

Baseball Blanks Mules, Closes In on Playoffs

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Ursinus College baseball team put itself on the brink of a Centennial Conference playoff berth with a dominant 9-0 shutout at Muhlenberg on Thursday.

Freshman Alex Mumme and senior Alex Campbell each had a double and combined to drive in six runs for the Bears (22-12, 9-6), who now need one more win or a loss by Franklin & Marshall to qualify for the CC Tournament for the first time since 2011.

Senior Seth Regensburg and junior Pierce Greenleaf tossed four shutout innings apiece and senior Lou Aikins finished the job as Ursinus blanked Muhlenberg (14-19, 4-11) for the first time since 2003. It was the second shutout of the season for the Bears, who also defeated F&M by the same score two weeks ago. Muhlenberg outscored Ursinus, 27-7, in a sweep of last year's season series.

Ursinus took command in the third inning, when senior Kieran Geyer and junior Travis Kozak – each of whom had three hits – sandwiched singles around a walk to senior Vincent Terry. Back-to-back groundouts by freshman Dom Fiorentino and Campbell secured the first two runs of the contest.

Campbell's two-out double scored Terry in the top of the fifth, and a dropped fly ball off the bat of Mumme allowed Campbell to come home with a 4-0 lead.

The Bears used small ball and a big hit by Mumme to break things open in the seventh. Three consecutive bunt hits by Kozak, Fiorentino, and Campbell set the table for Mumme, who cleared the bases with a double to the gap in right-center field. The freshman later scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Carter Usowski and added an RBI single in the top of the eighth.

Mumme finished 2-for-5 with four RBI, and is now just one shy of tying the school record for doubles in a season (16). Campbell was 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI, leaving him only six hits shy of 100 for his career. Kozak and Geyer each had three hits and scored a run.

Greenleaf started the game and threw four scoreless innings, striking out two and allowing three hits, while Regensburg (6-2) produced the same line with four punch-outs and no walks to earn the win. Aikins had a strikeout in a 1-2-3 ninth for the Bears, who turned a pair of double plays.

Regensburg became the fifth pitcher in program history to register 15 career wins and is only four strikeouts shy of 200.

The baseball team concludes its home-and-home series with Muhlenberg on Friday, the final contest at Thomas Field this season, before closing the regular season at Washington College on Saturday.