EASTON, Pa. – The Swarthmore College baseball team exploded for season highs in runs and hits while clinching a Centennial Conference playoff berth in the process with a 23-12 victory in eight innings versus Muhlenberg College on Friday.
 
The Garnet banged out 21 hits on the day and scored runs in all but one of the eight frames played. Swarthmore had an early 5-1 lead but the Mules rallied to go in front, 9-6, through three innings. The Garnet victimized the Muhlenberg hurlers for 17 runs the rest of the way.
 
All nine batters in the lineup recorded a hit for Swarthmore. Aidan Sullivan, Max Roffwarg, Matthew Silvestre, Leor Kedar, and Benjamin Buchman all posted a team-high three hits with Sullivan reaching base six times and scoring five runs. Zac Kahn drove in an impressive seven runs, four of which came on a grand slam.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Garnet scored three times in the opening frame. Silvestre knocked in two with a single and Brad Johnston plated one with a base hit. After the Mules cut it to 3-1, Sullivan and Buchman recorded RBI singles in the second to put Swarthmore up 5-1.
 
- Muhlenberg got right back in it with a grand slam in the bottom of the second to even the score at five. Wilson Henze produced an RBI single in the third to put the Garnet back on top, 6-5. However, the Mules answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take their first lead, 9-6.
 
- Swarthmore came back with eight unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth to take a 14-9 lead. Kahn highlighted the stretch with his fourth home run of the year, crushing a pitch to right field with the bases loaded. The salami pulled Kahn into a tie for the team lead in homers.
 
- Muhlenberg bashed a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to get within three (14-11). After the only scoreless inning of the day in the sixth, the Garnet scored twice in the seventh to make it 16-11. Kahn registered another RBI on a groundout and Max Beadling drove in Buchman with a single.
 
- Swarthmore broke the game open with a seven-run eighth. The Garnet sent 12 men to the plate in the inning and totaled six hits. Kahn knocked in another two runs with a single and Kedar smacked a two-run double to punctuate the barrage. The Mules scored their final run on a double in the bottom of the inning before the contest ended due to the conference's 10-run rule.
 
GARNET OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Hits: Five players 3
Runs: Sullivan 5
RBI: Kahn 7
Stolen Bases: Sullivan 3
 
UP NEXT
Swarthmore (20-13, 11-1 Centennial) travels to No. 2 Johns Hopkins University on Saturday for a doubleheader in a battle for first place in the conference.