“It always goes through your mind, obviously,” said Lynch. “But you can’t go up there trying to hit home runs. You have to keep on top of the ball and try to hit a line drive.”

What Lynch hit was neither home run nor line drive. It was a soft looper that fell in no-man’s land behind the pitcher’s mound, resulting in a different type of rarity – an infield hit for the big catcher – and bringing in the fifth run of the inning.

That’s the type of day it was for the Mules, who hit

Men’s Golf Finishes Ninth; Women Fourth The Muhlenberg men’s golf team ended up in ninth place at the McDaniel Spring Invitational. The tournament field included six of the eight Centennial Conference squads. The Mules finished fourth among the CC schools but were just five strokes back of the second-best CC team in the standings. Sophomore Matthew Cohen had the lowest Muhlenberg score (81) on the second day, and senior Biff Slocum took the fewest strokes (161) over 36 holes. Click here for Muhlenberg box score. Click here for complete stats. The women’s golf team opened its 2010 season by finishing fourth out of five complete teams at the Dickinson Invitational. Junior Amy Venuto was 11th out of the 26 golfers in the field with a 104, and sophomore Amanda Heiberger, whose low round last year was 129, shot 108. Click here for Muhlenberg box score.

plenty of balls hard and found the holes even when they didn’t. Muhlenberg pounded out 18 hits and scored a season high in runs in bringing the Garnet’s eight-game winning streak to a screeching halt with a 17-3 victory.

The win was the Mules’ third in two days, allowing them to end the

Cresta, here getting in on the hands of Anthony Montalbano, finished strong, recording his final five outs by strikeout. In his start against Swarthmore on Tuesday, Cresta did not strike out any batters in seven innings.

first week of the Centennial Conference season on an incredible high after beginning it with a disappointing 6-5 loss at Swarthmore.

The rematch with the Garnet (11-7, 3-1) was close until Muhlenberg broke it open with a six-run sixth and an eight-run eighth. The Mules (9-9, 3-1) jumped on top early with two runs in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by senior Eric Pomroy and an error. Swarthmore tied the score on a two-run homer in the fourth.

With one out in the fifth, Pomroy lined a single to left for his third hit of the game and the 150th of his career. One out later, sophomore Brian Beck doubled to left-center to bring in Pomroy with the go-ahead run.

After Lynch led off the sixth with his second home run of the season and junior Jeff Puklin singled with one out, the Garnet brought in a lefty to pitch to the two left-handed batters at the top of the Mule lineup. But they foiled the strategy, as senior Dan Fisher singled hard through the right side and sophomore Jesse Nusbaum doubled to deep center to bring in Puklin and Fisher, making the score 6-2.

Muhlenberg added three more runs that inning, which was more than enough for senior Phil Cresta. The southpaw pitched a six-hit complete game and struck out eight to earn his 19th career win, two short of the school record.

“Phil did a great job today,” said Lynch. “That was our third game working together this year, and we have good camaraderie. I called the pitches and he rarely shook me off. He hit his spots great.”

Ahead 9-3, the Mules exploded for eight more runs in the eighth, an inning that featured another two-run double by Nusbaum, two doubles by junior Bobby Spindler and another “looks-good-in-the-box-score” hit by Lynch, a bloop that landed in between the shortstop and left fielder.

Pomroy finished the game 4-for-5 with four runs scored. Fisher was on base in four of his six plate appearances, stole third twice and scored three runs, increasing his season total to 33 in 18 games. Beck had two doubles and drove in a pair, and freshman John Muha added two RBI.

“These three games were crucial,” said Lynch. “If we lose them we’re in a big hole. Now we’re sitting pretty and have momentum going into our game against Haverford on Wednesday.”
Click here for line score.
Click here for complete stats.