The Muhlenberg baseball team came back from an early three-run deficit to tie the game, but Ursinus scored the go-ahead run in the eighth and held on for a 6-5 win, completing a season sweep of the Mules.

The Bears (13-12 overall) and Mules (14-11) are tied for third place in the Centennial Conference, each with a 7-3 league mark.

Muhlenberg trailed 3-0 after Ursinus’ first two trips to the plate and faced a 5-3 deficit when it came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. After the first two batters made out, a hit batsman and walk put the tying runs on base. Senior Matt Tobia singled to center to bring in one run, and freshman John Kalis greeted a Bear relief pitcher by singling to right on the first pitch, driving in the tying run.

In the top of the eighth, Ursinus had two outs and nobody on before plating the winning run on two singles, a walk and a wild pitch.

The Mules had a leadoff walk in the eighth and a hit batsman in the ninth but did not get either runner into scoring position.

Freshman Brad Auerbach hit a two-run single and played a sharp third base, recording seven assists.

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Junior Nicole Washburn and sophomore Katie Vecchione combined to allow no runs on eight hits as the Mules swept their third straight Centennial Conference doubleheader,

“[The Washington pitcher] was throwing first-pitch strikes constantly, so I went up looking for one,” said Ruhling of her eighth-inning double off the fence in left.

9-0 and 1-0 at Washington.

Muhlenberg has won six in a row with the three sweeps to get back to the .500 mark, and the last three wins have been shutouts by three different pitchers. It’s the first time since 2004 that the Mules have tossed three consecutive shutouts, and the first time in their history that three pitchers have been responsible for back-to-back-to-back blankings.

In all, Muhlenberg’s staff has not allowed a run in 22 innings and has given up just six runs and 27 hits in the six-game winning streak.

In the first game, Washburn tossed a three-hitter over five innings for her third shutout of the season and also went 1-for-3 and scored two runs. Freshman Samantha Crist had a big game at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a triple, three runs scored and three RBI. She singled in a run in the second, and her two-run triple in the fifth gave the Mules (14-14, 7-3) the eight-run lead needed to end the game early.

Freshman RiRi Ferrigno hit a double – her sixth in four games – and drove in two runs.

Muhlenberg needed extra innings to win the second game, scoring the lone run on doubles by senior Lindsay Ruhling and Crist in the top of the eighth inning. Vecchione pitched a five-hitter and allowed only two runners to reach second base.

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