GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Haverford College baseball team needed a win in the Centennial Conference Tournament on Saturday against Johns Hopkins University to keep their season alive. The Fords delivered in thrilling fashion with a walk-off bunt single from Mike Tentilucci that lifted Haverford to a 4-3 victory at Kirchoff Field in Gettysburg, Pa.
Haverford (19-18) and Johns Hopkins (22-16) were tied 3-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth. The Fords put themselves in good position when Zach Taylor tripled to center field with only one out. Tentilucci followed with a suicide squeeze bunt that allowed the speedy Taylor to score from third and vault the Fords into the next round of the tournament.
Haverford will wait to play the loser of the game between Gettysburg College and Muhlenberg College. The winner of the Fords game will advance to Sunday's championship round to play the winner of the game between the Bullets and Mules.
The Fords started fast by getting a leadoff triple from Nick Miranda in the bottom of the first inning. Shortstop William Bannard then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the second seed up 1-0. The next batter, Thomas Vollaro, walked and later scored after an RBI single from Jared Deveau to left field, which gave the Fords a 2-0 advantage after just one inning of work.
After a run from Johns Hopkins in the top of the second, Miranda pushed the Fords lead back to two runs in the bottom of the third. The center fielder began the frame with a double to left center field. Bannard's bunt single moved Miranda over to third and Vollaro's infield sacrifice scored Miranda and gave Haverford a 3-1 edge.
Starting pitcher Casey Fox held the Blue Jays to just one run through five innings, before the third seed knotted the contest at three in the sixth. A two-out single from Conor Reynolds tallied two runs for Johns Hopkins and tied the game 3-3 with only three and half frames to play.
Fox and relief pitcher Patrick Falkoff (3-0) scattered four hits in the final three innings and struck out four Blue Jays to hold Johns Hopkins scoreless after the sixth inning. Fox finished his day with a line of seven innings, five hits, and seven strikeouts. Falkoff picked up his third win of the year after striking out three batters over two scoreless innings.
Miranda, Deveau, Taylor and Tentilucci all finished the game with two hits apiece.
Haverford and the loser of the Gettysburg and Muhlenberg game will faceoff at Kirchoff Field around 4 p.m. For full coverage of the conference tournament click here.