HAVERFORD, Pa. - Sophomore Zach Taylor hit the second home run of his career but the Haverford College baseball team opened its seventh straight appearance in the Centennial Conference tournament with a 9-5 loss to visiting Muhlenberg College at Kannerstein Field on Thursday afternoon.
The second-seeded Fords (18-18) will continue play in the double-elimination conference tournament on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Gettysburg College against the loser of Friday's game between fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins University and top-seeded Gettysburg. The contest between Johns Hopkins and the Bullets was postponed until Friday due to field conditions left behind by this week's heavy rains.
Thursday's game saw the visitors score one run in the second inning and four more in the third off of starter Tommy Bergjans (7-2) on their way to a 5-0 lead.
Bergjans struck out five and allowed just two more Mules' hits over the next four innings of work but Muhlenberg starter Matthew Lawsky (5-2) kept Haverford scoreless through six.
Eyeing a late comeback, the Fords got on the scoreboard in the seventh. Sophomore George Hatamiya fueled the rally with a leadoff walk and freshman Jared Deveau made sure Hatamiya was not on first for long as he laced a one-out RBI-double to left center.
The third-seeded Mules responded with four runs in the top of the eighth on four hits before reliever Patrick Falkoff induced a ground ball from Max Litvak to end the frame.
Haverford was far from finished, however, as Thomas Vollaro started off the bottom of the eighth with a single up the middle before Taylor blasted the second home run of his career over the fence in left field.
The Fords continued to be aggressive at the plate in the eighth after Taylor's homer as Hatamiya reached base on an infield single and Nick Ott followed with a double to right. Hatamiya scored on an error by the Muhlenberg shortstop and then Haverford pulled to within four (9-5) when Mike Tentilucci got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Phillip Balseca came on to pitch for the Mules with the tying run coming to the plate and the inning came to close when the junior reliever got Vollaro, who was at the plate for the second time in the frame, to fly out to left field.
Junior Clay Bloszies struck out three visitors in the top of the ninth and the Fords looked to complete the comeback in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Nick Miranda drew a one-out walk but Balseca allowed no other base runners while earning his fifth save of the season.
Taylor and Vollaro each finished 2-for-4 in the contest while Hatamiya score two runs.
Kurt Johnson paced Muhlenberg with three hits and two runs scored.
Haverford will look to rebound with a victory over either Johns Hopkins (22-16) or host Gettysburg (31-6). The Fords split the season series with both the Blue Jays and the Bullets.