Baseball splits at hopkins

Tough Loss for Men’s Lacrosse The Muhlenberg men’s lacrosse team suffered its fourth one-goal loss of the season, and its second in a row, falling at Montclair State, 8-7. The Mules (3-8) trailed 7-4 early in the third quarter, but rallied to tie the game by scoring the next three goals. Freshman Alex Ardolino tallied back-to-back unassisted goals in a span of 1:41 in the third quarter, and junior Ari Jacobson knotted the score with 6:24 left in the fourth. Montclair (9-4) went ahead just 50 seconds later, and Muhlenberg could not get a shot off the rest of the game. Freshman Corey Aferiat also scored two goals for the Mules, and senior Dan Dugan won nine faceoffs. Click here for box score. Click here for complete stats.

Freshman Mike Speroni pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn his first career win.

The Muhlenberg baseball team began a long weekend of action by playing two long games at Johns Hopkins. The Mules took the first game, 8-7, before dropping the nightcap, 18-7.

Muhlenberg has won at least one game against Johns Hopkins, historically the strongest program in the Centennial Conference in seven of the last 11 years, including one last season when the Blue Jays came within one strike of winning the national championship.

Senior John Kalis had a big day in Baltimore, going 5-for-9 and hitting the game-winning home run in the opener.

The Mules (11-20-1, 5-9) trailed 6-4 in Game 1 before scoring four runs in the top of the sixth. Sophomore Eli Branzburg began the winning rally with a single. Two errors and a groundout brought in one run, and Kalis belted his second round-tripper of the season to give Muhlenberg an 8-5 lead.

With the score still 8-5, junior Phil Cresta came in from the bullpen for the first time in his career after 30 straight starts. The Blue Jays (16-12, 8-5) plated one unearned run, but Cresta earned the save by retiring the final two hitters with the potential tying and winning runs on base.

Muhlenberg could not keep pace with the Hopkins offense in the second game, as the Blue Jays scored in every inning. Kalis and junior Dan Fisher had three hits apiece.
Click here for line scores.
Click for complete stats: Game 1 | Game 2