baseball starts 1-0 in centennial

Phil Cresta didn’t let the pressure of Muhlenberg’s first Centennial Conference game get to him.

The sophomore pitched into the ninth inning, allowing only five singles

Cresta struck out six; he leads the Mules with 22 whiffs on the season.

and one run, as the Mules began their league season with a 5-1 win at Haverford, a CC playoff team two of the last three years.

“The last couple of games

Women’s Tennis Blanks Owls The Muhlenberg women’s tennis team bounced back from last week’s loss against Johns Hopkins with a 9-0 win against Bryn Mawr. The Mules, who avenged last season’s 5-4 loss to the Owls, recorded their first shutout success on the season. Freshman Lindsay Schmidt registered her third successive doubles victory in CC action in partnership with freshman Danielle Winston. Schmidt also won her first-ever singles conference match, claiming a 6-3, 6-1 triumph at No. 5. Winston allowed her opponents to snag only two games in both her singles and doubles matches, while junior Carly Rotfeld also came out victorious in her two encounters on the day. Freshmen Caitie Druker and Sara Sutker maintained their league doubles record intact, winning their third straight match at No. 2. Druker also won her first match as a No. 1 singles player. Senior Jacquelyn Magner claimed her first victory on the season, defeating Leah Raj, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 6 singles. Click here for box score.

I put a lot of pressure on myself because I wanted to do well,” said Cresta, who allowed eight runs to Moravian in his last start. “Today I got out there and was so relaxed.”

After giving up a run on two hits and two walks in the first inning, Cresta settled down and permitted only three Fords to reach base from the second through the eighth. He retired the leadoff hitter in each of those innings.

Cresta allowed a leadoff single in the ninth, then retired two hitters before walking the next batter. Junior Joseph Barrese came in to get the final hitter on a foul pop to first, earning his first career save.

Muhlenberg scored a run in the first on a two-out RBI single by junior Edward Risener.

The game was tied at 1-1 when senior Joe Carlo led off the sixth with a double down the left-field line and advanced to third on a groundout. With the infield drawn in, freshman Jeff Puklin hit a hot smash up the middle that glanced off the second baseman’s glove and into center, bringing in Carlo with the go-ahead run.

Three batters later, junior Christian Conti – who threw out a runner at third from right field in the first inning – gave the Mules some breathing room by hitting his fourth home run of the season, a three-run blast to left-center.

“He absolutely destroyed that ball,” said Cresta. “I think that’s the farthest one he’s hit.”

Carlo, Puklin and Risener were among five players with a pair of hits for Muhlenberg, which totaled 12 hits and did not make an error in the field. Good pitching, clutch hitting and solid fielding make for a winning combination.

“This is a big start for us, especially against a good team like Haverford,” said Cresta. “Hopefully we’ll start rolling now.”
Click here for line score.