PHILADELPHIA – The Arcadia University baseball picked up a 9-6 victory over visiting Franklin & Marshall College Tuesday afternoon at Erny Field. The game had been scheduled for nine innings, but was halted due to darkness.
 
FOR THE RECORD: The Knights improved to 4-1 with the victory, while the Diplomats fell to 1-4 with their fourth straight loss. This was Arcadia's first-ever win over F&M, which won each of the first two meetings between the two programs. The Diplomats won the first-ever meeting by a count of 5-1 in 2015 and were 7-5 winners last season. The home team has won all three meetings in the series.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Knights scored early and often, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first and three runs in the bottom of the second as it built a 7-2 lead. Each of the first three Arcadia batters got on base to start the first after falling behind 1-0 in the top half of the inning. An RBI-single to right center field off the bat of senior Jordan Draude tie the game at 1-1 before junior Nick Cardace drove in a pair of runs with another single to gap in right. Draude capped the scoring in the frame, coming home as freshman Tyler Wisnewski grounded out to shortstop.
 
The Diplomats got one run back in the top of the second on a bases-loaded walk to cut their deficit to 4-2 before the Knights tacked on three runs in the bottom of the frame to push their lead to five. Junior Drew Coisson scored from third after a two-out error by third baseman Jimmy Whelan extended the inning. Cardace then drove in sophomore Nick Ponente with a single to center, and fellow sophomore Luke Hohenstein drove in Draude with his single to left.
 
After giving up another unearned run in the third, F&M pulled back within two with a four-run fourth. Whelan drove in two runs with his triple to center before heading home on a wild pitch, and Max Schwartz drove in Dan Marano with a single to right to make it 8-6 in favor of Arcadia. Those would be the Diplomats' final runs of the game.
 
ON THE HILL: Sophomore Zach Manasek picked up his first decision of the season after allowing three hits with three strikeouts over 1.2 innings of relief, placing his record at 1-0 this season. Freshman Andrew Scholz picked up his first career save after yielding one hit with two Ks over the final two innings. Jonathan Cole fell to 0-1 after giving up seven runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks in two innings.
 
ARCADIA AT BAT: Cardace finished 2 for 4 with three RBI, while Hohenstein was 2 for 4 with a triple, an RBI and a run scored. Coisson was 2 for 3 with a double and scored two runs, while Ponente drew a pair of walks in the game and also scored two runs.
 
FRANKLIN & MARSHALL AT BAT: Whelan was 1 for 2 with a walk, a triple, two RBI and two runs scored, while Marano was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored. Casey Bulk was 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored.