HAVERFORD, Pa. - For the seventh consecutive season the Haverford College baseball team has played its way into the Centennial Conference tournament. The Fords won the league title in 2012 and begin their quest for another championship as they host Muhlenberg College on Thursday, May 1, at 3 p.m.
Haverford (18-17, 11-7 CC) went 8-3 in its last 11 conference games to capture the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Gettysburg College (30-6, 15-3) earned the top spot in the league and will host the Saturday and Sunday games. Muhlenberg (16-17-1, 9-8-1) finished in the third seed and Johns Hopkins University (22-15, 9-9) narrowly made the tournament as the four seed.
"I'm really proud of this team," commented 14th year head baseball coach Dave Beccaria. "We've played an extremely competitive schedule and we've grown from the challenges that we've faced along the way. We've done the hard work of getting into this position, and now we're excited to have an opportunity to win another championship."
The Fords and Mules split their season series, 1-1, with the visiting teams winning each game. Although Haverford lost to Muhlenberg at Kannerstein Field earlier this year, the Fords are 12-9 against their league counterpart and have won seven of the last nine meetings against the Mules.
Haverford boasts many of the top athletes in the Centennial. Starting pitcher Tommy Bergjans led the league in wins (seven) and ERA (0.85). The right-hander also tied for second in the conference with 69 strikeouts this year. Relief pitcher Patrick Falkoff paced the league with five saves.
Shortstop William Bannard led the Centennial with 23 stolen bases during the season and leadoff man Nick Miranda had the third-highest batting average at .377.
The Fords also have an experienced roster that is poised to make a deep run in the postseason. Haverford has 14 players that were on the team when the Fords won the Centennial title in 2012. Beccaria believes that that experience will pay off this weekend.
"We have a lot of postseason experience on our team, including juniors and seniors who won a conference championship in 2012," continued Beccaria. "We know what it takes to be successful in the playoffs."
Haverford enters the tournament with a win versus each of the other three tournament teams already under its belt in 2014. The Fords are a combined 19-12 in their past 41 games against the three teams and are 8-6 against top-seeded Gettysburg over the last seven years. The baseball team has made the Centennial tournament in nine out of the last 10 seasons, but understands that it will need to do the little things correctly to come away with another championship.
"In order to win another championship we just need to continue to be ourselves and do what we do best," added Beccaria. "Our toughness, competitiveness and togetherness will continue to be great assets for us in the playoffs, and we'll continue to be aggressive and make plays on offense and defense."
The Fords and Mules will square off at Kannerstein Field on Thursday, May 1 at 3 p.m. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Gettysburg/Johns Hopkins semifinal on Saturday, May 3 at 12:30 p.m. on Kirchoff Field in Gettysburg, Pa. The losers will play at the same venue at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. The double-elimination tournament will see one more game on Saturday and then the championship round will begin on Sunday. For full coverage of the 2014 Centennial Conference Baseball Tournament click here.