HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College baseball team splits its Centennial Conference doubleheader vs. the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays by winning game one 5-3 and losing game two 5-4 in 11 innings at Kannerstein Field on Sunday afternoon.
Haverford 5, Johns Hopkins 3 (Game 1)
The Fords jumped on the board in the second inning with two runs on a bases loaded walk and hit-by-pitch with two out.
In the top half of the third inning, Johns Hopkins had a scoring threat thwarted at the plate. With two out, Conor Reynolds ripped a base hit to left. Raul Shah rounded third, but was thrown out at the plate on a wonderful throw from sophomore Thomas Vollaro.
Both starting pitchers, Haverford senior Tommy Bergjans and Johns Hopkins' Carter Burns, settled down after the third inning. Each team had two hits from the fourth through six frames. In the seventh inning, Vollaro led off with a double to left field, followed by a walk from freshman Matt Goss. Burns was pulled for relief pitcher Ed Bryner before sophomore Ben Verducci laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Senior Casey Fox then stepped to the plate and walloped a three-run home run to left field to put the Fords up 5-0.
Bergjans held Johns Hopkins to just two runners in scoring position. Hopkins' other scoring chance came in the eighth inning with a runner on third base and two out, but the two-time All-American recorded his 15th strikeout of the afternoon to escape the jam.
The two-time Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Year allowed four hits and walked two batters to pick up his second win of the season. His 15 strikeouts are tied for the second most in program history and mark the 13th time in his career in which he has recorded at least 10 strikeouts in a game.
The Blue Jays put together a rally in the ninth inning. A lead-off walk and single put the first two runners on for Hopkins. After a strikeout, Ryan Orgielewicz hit a three-run home run to get the visitors within two. The Centennial Conference foe brought the tying run to the plate, but a groundout sealed the win for the Fords.
Fox's home run was the 11th of his career and gave him three RBI in the game. Junior Nick Ott and Vollaro each had two hits in the victory.
Johns Hopkins 5, Haverford 4 – 11 innings (Game 2)
The Blue Jays' Brian Lin led off the game with a home run to right center, giving Hopkins an early 1-0 advantage. Freshman Justin Herring, the Fords' starting pitcher, allowed just two hits over the next four innings. Hopkins' Mitch Weaver led off the fifth inning with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. With the infield drawn in, Herring got the next batter to ground out to second and then got a fly out to end the scoring threat.
Junior George Hatamiya ripped a base hit to right field to begin the fifth inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Mike Tentilucci. After a fly out, it appeared the inning was coming to an end on a Vollaro strikeout, but the Hopkins' catcher threw the ball over the first baseman's head which allowed Hatamiya to tie the contest at one.
Johns Hopkins countered in the next half inning with three runs. A sacrifice fly by Orgielewicz tallied the first run for the Blue Jays and the next hitter, Mike Smith, singled to left to score Craig Hoelzer. Smith advanced to second on the throw home and scooted to third on a throwing error. During the next at-bat, Smith scored on a wild pitch to put the Blue Jays up 4-1.
With the score 4-2, Haverford put together a rally in the seventh inning. Back-to-back errors put the first two runners on for the Fords. After a failed sacrifice bunt attempt, Fox was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Freshman Zach Taylor knocked in Goss with a hit to left and a RBI groundout by sophomore Jared Deveau evened the score at four.
The score remained tied through the ninth inning and into the 11th before the Blue Jays got one across. With two out and the bases loaded, a wild pitch scored pinch runner Thomas Gordon. An errant throw on the play made Lin dash for home, but he was thrown out by Goss who was playing third.
The Fords had the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the 11th, but couldn't get the run across.
Freshman Patrick O'Shea was outstanding in relief, allowing an unearned run in five innings. In 10 1/3 innings this year, the freshman has not given up an earned run.
Head coach Dave Beccaria's team's record now stands at 5-9 overall and 1-1 in the Centennial Conference while Johns Hopkins is now 9-6 this year and 1-1 in the conference. The Fords will travel to Hood Trophy rival Swarthmore on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.) before home games with Moravian on Wednesday (4 p.m.) and Swarthmore on Thursday (3:30 p.m.).