Busillo Drives in Seven as Baseball Continues to Pour on Runs
Monday, March 5, 2012|
The “Goose” was loose in southwest Florida.
Senior Nick “Goose” Busillo
The 6-1 start matches the best by a Mule team after seven games in 84 years. The
Busillo singled in a run in the first, hit a three-run double in the third and capped his big day with a three-run homer in the eighth, becoming the sixth Mule with seven RBI in a game. He also doubled in the seventh. Three players have driven in eight runs in a game, most recently in 2008.
At the rate the Mules are scoring runs, it may be only a matter of time before that record is matched or broken. Muhlenberg is hitting .351 and averaging almost 12 runs in its first seven games.
The Mules scored in all but one inning against Emerson (0-1), breaking open a 2-2 tie with five in the second and six in the third. They have 14 innings of at least three runs this season.
The support was plenty for freshman Christian Ferlan, making his first career start. After giving up two runs in the second, Ferlan blanked the Lions until the eighth. He retired 16 straight batters in one stretch, striking out the 3-4-5 hitters in the sixth.
Every starting position player had at least one hit. Freshman Jimmy Cody went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, junior John Muha scored four runs, and freshman Nick Plinio crossed home plate three times. Sophomore Max Litvak played the second half of the game and went 2-for-3 with a triple.
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Junior Joseph Vila was the first Centennial Conference offensive player of the week of the 2012 season. In the Mules’ first six games, he
hit .522 with two home runs and 14 RBI. He also recorded a double and a triple for a .913 slugging percentage and had a .625 on-base percentage.
Vila belted three-run homers against Gallaudet and Wheaton, and in a 14-12 win against 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Catholic, he tied the game with a single in the eighth and drove in the eventual game-winning runs in the 11th.