COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus baseball team was dealt a tough 8-7 extra innings loss to Franklin & Marshall on Monday afternoon in Centennial Conference play at Thomas Field.
With the loss, the Bears fall to 8-15 overall and 1-3 in Centennial Conference action. Meanwhile, the Diplomats improved to 15-10 overall and kept their perfect conference mark intact at 6-0.
F&M jumped on the Bears in the first at-bat of the game when Spencer Berson launched a leadoff home run to left field to give the Diplomats the early 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Jakob Hoffman crushed a solo home run to dead center to make it a 2-0 game. Ursinus put runners on first and second base with no outs in the bottom of the second before a fly out and back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat. Berson struck again for the Diplomats in the top of the third as he ripped his second home run to left field to extend the lead to 3-0. The Bears were able to work out of more damage by throwing out a Diplomats runner trying to take two bases on a passed ball.
Ursinus advanced runners to second and third base with one out in the bottom of the third and got their first run across when senior Matteo Falcone hit a sacrifice fly to right field. A hit by pitch and walk loaded the bases again for the Bears and freshman Peter Balos took a four-pitch walk to cut the lead down to 3-2. After a strikeout ended the frame, Hoffman hit his second home run to left field to put the Diplomats back up two runs at 4-2 in the top of the fourth. F&M then added a fifth run in the top of the seventh on a two-out infield single with a runner on third base. Ursinus chipped away at the Diplomat lead as senior Tim Pyne delivered a two-out two-run home run for the Bears in the bottom of the seventh to make it a one-run game at 5-4.
After stranding two more Diplomat runners, Balos opened the bottom of the eighth for the Bears by reaching on an error and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Freshman Dylan Runsdorf capitalized by roping a single to centerfield to score Balos and tying the game at five. The Bears were given second life with two outs as Pyne reached and advanced on a dropped third strike plus errant throw to first. However, the Bears were caught accidentally batting out of order which ended the inning.
In the 10th, the Diplomats took the lead on a two-out three run home run to left field from Drew Butera. Junior Nick Diaz led off the bottom of the 10th for the Bears with a pinch hit double and came around to score on another pinch hit double from sophomore Christian Dinallo with two outs made it 8-6. An error from the Diplomat shortstop brought in another run across to cut the deficit down to 8-7, but the Bears stranded the tying run with a groundout to second base in the next at-bat.
Pyne went 2-of-4 from the plate for the Bears and drove in two runs off his first collegiate home run. Freshman Kieran Hollander started the game for Ursinus on the mound and allowed four earned runs off seven hits and struck out five batters with two walks. Junior David Kratz suffered the loss for the Bears after allowing the go-ahead three run home run in the 10th. Charlie Wright earned the win for the Diplomats after pitching the last two innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits with two strikeouts.
The Bears return to action tomorrow, April 12th as they will host Muhlenberg at 3:30 p.m. for a solo Centennial contest.