MOOSIC, Pa. - Tommy Bergjans and the Haverford College baseball team shut down NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional top seed Moravian College 3-1, on Wednesday afternoon, and picked up the program's second NCAA Tournament victory in the past three years.
Bergjans (9-2) had one of his finest pitching performances of the season in the NCAA first round win. The Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Year struck out a season-high 13 batters and gave up just four hits in the complete-game victory. Bergjans picked up his ninth win of the year in the contest and now sits atop the Haverford record books for pitching wins in a single season.
Haverford (23-18) provided Bergjans with an early lead by scoring in its first time at bat. Leadoff man Nick Miranda began the game with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. A single from Casey Fox pushed Miranda over to third and Nick Ott followed with a groundout RBI that allowed Miranda to give the Fords a 1-0 advantage after the top of the first.
Moravian (32-11) evened the score in the bottom of the third on an RBI single from Landmark Conference Player of the Year, Matt Hanson. In the next at bat, Hanson attempted to steal second base, but a perfect throw from Fords' catcher Nick Ott caught Hanson and ended the scoring threat.
Bergjans and Greyhound starting pitcher Rob Solano (5-1) stifled opposing batters over the next four innings as neither pitcher allowed a runner to reach third base.
The Fords came up clutch in the eighth inning, though, and were able to tack on two runs in the top half of the inning.
Sophomore Zach Taylor began the frame with a double to left field. George Hatamiya used an infield single to advance Taylor to third and a throwing error by Solano allowed Taylor to score and put Hatamiya on second.
With the score now 2-1 in favor of Haverford, Miranda laid down a sacrifice bunt to put Hatamiya on third and increased the chance of adding an insurance run. The Fords got the extra padding on the scoreboard when William Bannard ripped a single to right field that allowed Hatamiya to trot home and put Haverford up 3-1.
Bergjans, pitching with the lead again, didn't allow a single Greyhound to advance past second base in the final two innings and finished the contest with his 13th strikeout in the game. The right-hander's 13 Ks is the third most in a game in school history, only behind his own marks of 18 and 15 strikeouts in a game.
The difference in the game was Haverford's clutch hitting and Bergjans' clutch pitching. The Fords were 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position, while Bergjans only gave up one hit when Moravian had a runner in scoring position throughout the contest.
Haverford remains in the winners' bracket with the victory and will play fourth seed Baldwin-Wallace University on Thursday, May 15 at 4:30 p.m. The Yellow Jackets topped host Misericordia University, 8-4, in their first round game. Full coverage of the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional can be found here.