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Baseball Continues Winning Ways Against Merchant Marine

Wednesday, March 7, 2012
 

Men’s lacrosse

Bob Vila was known for home improvement. Joseph Vila is making a name for himself in the area of team improvement.

Vila, the reigning Centennial Conference player of the week, continued his torrid

Rob Shannon
Shannon is the first Mule to win his first three starts of the season since 2005.
start by going 4-for-4 with two extra-base hits to lead the Muhlenberg baseball team to an 11-5 win against Merchant Marine.

The win gave the

Kline Goes Deep Again for Softball Team

Sophomore Kelly Kline hit her fourth home run of the season, but it was the only run the Muhlenberg softball team produced in a pair of losses, 9-0 to St. Mary’s (Minn.) and 7-1 to Emerson.

Kline doubled in her first at-bat of the day, extending her streak of consecutive hits to seven, the last five for extra bases. The streak ended with a groundout her next time up. Kline’s home run tied the second game at 1-1 in the fourth, but Emerson scored six runs in the last two innings.

Freshman Kelsey Jones struck out seven and allowed only three earned runs against Emerson.
Click here for line scores.
Click for complete stats: St. Mary’s game | Emerson game

Mules, who won 11 games all last season, a 7-1 record. Since the 1928 team went 11-0, Muhlenberg has started a season with wins in seven of its first eight games only once – 63 years ago, in 1949.

The Mules are averaging more than 11 runs per game, and Vila has been at the heart of the offense. He is hitting .548 with 17 RBI in eight games.

Muhlenberg had to come from behind twice to beat Merchant Marine (1-3). After giving up a pair of unearned runs in the second, the Mules plated three in the third. Freshman Chris Manfredonia singled in the tying run, and Vila came around on the same play when the right fielder overran the ball, giving Muhlenberg a 3-2 lead.

The Mariners took the lead back with two runs in the top of the fifth, but the Mules responded with two in their half of the inning. Vila tripled in sophomore Nick Kennedy, who led off with a single, and scored on an error.

RBI singles by senior Nick Busillo and Manfredonia in the sixth made it 7-4.

Muhlenberg put the game away with four runs in the eighth, and again Vila was in the middle of it. He singled in the first run of the inning, stole second, and was one of two runners to come around on a double by freshman Nick Plinio. Freshman Jimmy Cody capped the rally with an RBI single.

Junior Rob Shannon pitched his second complete game of the season, allowing nine hits and three earned runs while striking out two.
Click here for line score.
Click here for complete stats.