GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Haverford College baseball team outlasted the Gettysburg College Bullets in the Centennial Conference Championship to capture the Fords' second league title in the past three years on Sunday afternoon. Justin Coulter's walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th inning gave Haverford the conference crown against host Gettysburg in the longest game in Centennial tournament history.
Haverford (22-18) scored the winning run on a bases-loaded single to left field from Coulter. With one out in the bottom of the 12th Nick Ott reached on an error by the third baseman and advanced to second after Gettysburg (33-8) decided to intentionally walk Casey Fox. Zach Taylor followed with a single to load the bases and Ott scored on Coulter's championship-clinching single.
Starting pitcher Kyle Waney and reliever Tommy Bergjans (8-2) combined to allow only one run over 12 innings of work. Waney scattered nine hits and struck out five batters in his six innings, while Bergjans surrendered only one hit and fanned five batters to pick up his eighth win of the year.
Shortstop William Bannard went 2-for-4 in Game 7 to finish the tournament with nine total hits and was awarded the most valuable player award for his performance. The senior scored the Fords' first run of the championship game in the bottom of the first. Bannard hit a single to left field and then stole second base. Two batters later Jared Deveau ripped an RBI to center to easily score Bannard from second and give the Fords an early 1-0 lead.
The Bullets evened the score in the top of the third on an RBI from Mike Kielbasa. With runners on second and third Waney was able to get out of the jam and strand the runners to preserve the 1-1 tie.
The Fords had runners in scoring position in the fourth, eighth, ninth and 10th innings but were unable to break the tie game until Coulter's game-winning delivery in the 12th.
The win was Haverford's fourth-straight elimination game victory after defeating Johns Hopkins University and Muhlenberg College on Saturday and sweeping the Bullets in the championship round on Sunday.
Third baseman Casey Fox led the Fords with three hits from the plate in Game 7 as seven total players picked up at least two hits in the championship game.
Prior to Haverford's thrilling Game 7 victory, the Fords faced a must-win situation in Game 6. Starting pitcher Max Gerard provided one of the finest pitching outings of the tournament as the junior pitched a complete-game shutout. Gerard (3-1) scattered six hits over his nine innings of work and struck out four batters to lift Haverford to a 3-0 win.
Bannard, Taylor, and Nick Miranda each batted in a run in Game 6 and provided all the offense that the Fords needed to force the winner-take-all Game 7.
Haverford earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament as Centennial champions and will wait to hear who, where and when it plays. The NCAA selection release will be on Sunday, May 11 on NCAA.com with the NCAA Regional round being held from Wednesday, May 14 to Sunday, May 18.