COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Trailing 2-0 after the first inning, the Ursinus College baseball battled back throughout the middle innings scoring three runs to capture a 3-2 Centennial Conference victory over Muhlenberg College on Tuesday afternoon.
 

With the victory, the Bears improved to 15-21 overall and 7-7 in conference play, meanwhile the Mules fall to 13-22-1 on the season and 6-9 in conference action.

 
Sophomore Mike Scheller opened for the Bears on the mound and pitched two innings, allowing two hits, and two earned runs. First-year Dan Bass relieved Scheller on the mound and turned in seven innings without allowing a run, while scattering six hits and five strikeouts. At the plate, senior Solomon Griffith and sophomores Peter Balos and Dylan Runsdorf each recorded two hits. Sophomores Jordan Williams and Will Kelley each nabbed a base hit and an RBI.

 
Ursinus finished with seven stolen bases as Girffith and Jakob Cantor finished with a team-high two stolen bags. Seven stolen bases are a team high for Ursinus this season and marks as the most in game since they swiped seven bases in April of 2019 in a 11-8 victory over Gettysburg. With his two base hits, Griffith has extended his hitting streak to 12 games, while Runsdorf increased his batting average to .405 this season in Centennial Conference games.

 
Muhlenberg added their only two runs of the contest in the first inning to take an early 2-0 advantage. After allowing the second run, Scheller settled in and retired the next four batters before handing the ball over to Bass. In the third inning, Bass allowed a leadoff baserunner before setting down three consecutive batters via flyouts to strand a runner. In the bottom of the frame, Ursinus put two men aboard as Williams reached on a hit-by-pitch and Griffith singled into centerfield. The Mules escaped the inning as a strikeout stranded two runners on base for the Bears.

 
In the fourth frame, Bass retired the side in order behind two flyouts and a punch out and the Bears responded in the bottom of the frame by cutting their deficit to one. Sophomore Andrew Richter reached base via a walk, and a single from Rundorf advanced him into scoring position. After a fielder's choice, Williams came through with a two-out double to right center to make the score 2-1. The tying run was tagged out at the plate as a great 9-3-2 relay kept the deficit at one.

 
The Bears took their first lead of the game in the fifth frame, scoring two runs off three hits and stranding just one runner on base. Cantor led off the frame with a single into left and advanced to third with back-to-back stolen bases. Kelley recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly to centerfield to tie the game at two apiece. Griffith followed up with a single and the Bears continued to take advantage in the run game as he swiped second and third base to put the go-ahead runner just 90 feet away. Senior Tom Snipes scored Griffith as he lifted a sacrifice fly to center field. Balos connected on his second hit of the day with a line drive into center field but was stranded on first base as a strikeout ended the frame.

 
Bass continued to deal on the mound over the next two innings as he retired six of the next seven hitters, by collecting three groundouts, two flyballs, and a strikeout. In the bottom of the seventh, the Bears put two runners on base with two outs, but a groundout to shortstop ended the chance to add an insurance run. During the Mules chance at the plate in the eighth inning, they added back-to-back base hits with two outs to put the tying run at third base. Bass stepped up and settled in recording his third strikeout of the contest to keep the Bears ahead by one.

 
In the top of the ninth inning, Muhlenberg received a leadoff single from Caleb Tereska but he would be stranded at second base, as Bass recorded two strikeouts and a ground out to give Ursinus the 3-2 victory.

 
The Bears return to action on Friday as they travel to the home of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Coca-Cola Park, to square off with the Mules. Tickets can be purchased here.

 
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