baseball 7-run rally stuns fisher

Softball Drops Two In its final tuneup before starting Centennial Conference play, the Muhlenberg softball team was swept by No. 8 Cortland State in a pair of tight pitchers’ duels. The Red Dragons (11-1) won the first game, 2-1, despite the five-hit pitching of sophomore Ashley Brewer. The Mules fell behind 1-0 after three batters, but Brewer did not allow and more runs until the top of the seventh. That insurance run proved crucial when Muhlenberg (5-7) mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh. Senior RiRi Ferrigno hit a line-drive double to right to set up the Mules’ lone run, scored on a single by freshman Brittany Blohm. It was the first earned run allowed by the Cortland pitcher in 45 1/3 innings this season. Muhlenberg got the tying and winning runs into scoring position, but the game ended on a hard groundout to short. Sophomore Alyssa Bruckner put up zeroes in the second game until the fifth inning, when the Red Dragons scored a pair of runs. They added one more in the sixth and won, 3-0. Ferrigno had two of the Mules’ three hits. Click here for line scores. Click for complete stats: Game 1 | Game 2

Stop! Hammond time. When it comes to dramatic ninth-inning rallies, you can’t touch this.

The Muhlenberg baseball team scored seven runs in the

Hammond is greeted at third after his walkoff hit.

bottom of the ninth, capped by senior Eric Hammond’s two-run triple, to stun St. John Fisher 10-9 in the first game of a three-game series.

It wasn’t the biggest last-ditch comeback in school history – that came in 1988, when the Mules scored 10 runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat Moravian, 14-13, in the first game of a doubleheader. But it surely was one of the most improbable: Muhlenberg looked like a beaten team when it gave up five unearned runs in the top of the ninth, allowing the Cardinals (4-4) to extend a 4-3 lead to 9-3.

With one out in the ninth, freshman Jesse Nusbaum began the winning rally with a walk. He came around on a wild pitch and a single by junior Eric Pomroy, but after another walk, a flyout left the Mules with only one out left.

That out never came. Back-to-back singles by senior John Kalis and sophomore Bobby Spindler brought in another run, and sophomore Clint Lynch cleared the bases with his second double of the game, making the score 9-8.

Pinch-hitter Chris Costa greeted the new Fisher pitcher by working out a walk, taking close pitches for balls three and four. Hammond jumped on the second pitch and drove the ball into the gap in right-center, bringing home the tying and winning runs.

It was the second walkoff win in three home games this season for the Mules (6-9-1).

Pomroy and senior Christian Conti each had three hits. Sophomore Jason Daniels pitched a strong game, allowing only two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings.
Click here for line score.
Click here for complete stats.