May 7, 2005

Box Score

LANCASTER, PA -- Franklin & Marshall pinch hitter Jeff Rowand doubled down the right field line to drive home Stephen Frederick with only run of the game with one out in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Diplomats to a dramatic, 1-0 win over Johns Hopkins in the first game of the Centennial Conference's best-of-three baseball championship series. Game two is scheduled for noon on Sunday with a third game to follow if necessary.

Hopkins' starter Jim Flannery hit Frederick to open the ninth inning. Tom Miller then bunted Frederick over to second before Rowand's pinch hit double won it for the Diplomats. The loss is the first for Johns Hopkins in the four-year history of the Centennial Conference baseball tournament. The Blue Jays won the 2002, 2003 and 2004 titles without losing a game and had beaten third-seeded Haverford, 7-1 in the semifinals earlier on Saturday.

Flannery and Franklin & Marshall starter Ted Serro locked up in a classic pitcher's duel that saw the pair allow a total of just 13 hits and one walk. The Diplomats (24-13) had the bases loaded in the second and third innings but Flannery worked out of both jams. Hopkins had two men on in the first inning and runners at second and third with two outs in the ninth, but couldn't solve Serro as the Blue Jays (31-8) were scoreless for the first time this season.

Serro struck out six and allowed just the six hits without walking a batter, while Flannery allowed seven hits and issued one walk while striking out three.

The Blue Jays advanced to the championship series with the 7-1 win over Haverford earlier in the day. Senior Ryan McConnell, a native of Lancaster, pitched one of the strongest games of his career for the Blue Jays as he went the distance and allowed just six hits and an unearned run. He also struck out three and walked three.

The Blue Jays spotted the Fords a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth as they committed three errors in the inning to gift-wrap the only run Haverford would score.

Hopkins took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom fo the fifth as Mike Durgala opened the inning with a solo home run and Paul Winterling doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an error.

The Blue Jays gained some breathing room in the bottom of the sixth as Eric Nigro laced a two-run single that plated Ian Christie and Paul Long and Nigro later scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Spiciarich.

Any chance of a Haverford rally was killed in the bottom of the eighth as Winterling's two-run home run pushed the lead to 7-1 and McConnell made quick work of the Fords in the top of the ninth to advance the Blue Jays into the championship series opposite the top-seeded Diplomats.

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