CARLISLE, Pa. – The Haverford College baseball team was swept in a doubleheader vs. the Dickinson College Red Devils at MacPhail Field on Saturday afternoon. The Red Devils took game one, 3-1, and won 5-4 in 10 innings on a walk off single by Luke Besse in game two.
Dickinson 3, Haverford 1
The Red Devils scored two unearned runs in the first inning behind an error and RBI double by Steven Haynes. The Fords put a runner in scoring position in each of the first two frames, but couldn't push across a run. Dickinson added another unearned run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Matt Primavera. In the eighth inning, sophomore Ben Verducci tripled and touched home a batter later on a single by freshman Spencer Sohmer. The freshman stole second, but a fly out and strikeout ended the Haverford scoring chance.
Senior Tommy Bergjans was brilliant, allowing just three hits in seven innings of work, striking out 12. With his strikeout of Phil Werner in the first inning, the senior became the Centennial Conference all-time leader in strikeouts. He surpassed Ursinus' Zeb Engle '09 who had 302 strikeouts from 2006-09. The two-time All-American has 313 strikeouts in his fantastic career.
Verducci went 2-for-4 in the game and scored a run. He has recorded hits in five of his last seven contests. Junior Zach Taylor also nabbed two hits in the loss.
Dickinson's Garrett Kurtz struck out six and allowed one run in his complete game victory.
Dickinson 5, Haverford 4 – 10 innings
Haverford got the scoring started in game two with a sacrifice fly by Sohmer in the first inning. Dickinson quickly countered with a tally in the bottom of the first with a RBI ground out by Primavera. The score remained tied until the home half of the fourth inning on an RBI single by Rick Hopkins. Verducci tied the game for a second time with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Freshman Matt Goss would give the Fords their first lead of the game with an RBI knock in the seventh inning that scored junior George Hatamiya. The Fords added an insurance run in their half of the ninth inning on a sacrifice fly by Hatamiya.
Dickinson rallied with two runs in the bottom of the ninth frame on a fielders' choice and a fly out by Werner. In the home portion of the 10th, Hopkins led off with a single and advanced to second on sacrifice bunt. After groundout, Besse singled home Hopkins to complete the comeback victory for the Red Devils.
Junior Nick Ott had two hits in the game while Goss had two hits and a run scored. Hatamiya scored two runs for the Fords in the loss. Freshman Justin Herring allowed one earned run and struck out five in 7 1/3 innings of work.
Hopkins and Ryan Dolan each had a game-high three hits in the win for the Red Devils.
Head coach Dave Beccaria's team dropped to 5-13 overall and 1-5 in the Centennial Conference while Dickinson improved to 10-10-1 this season and 4-1-1 in conference play. Haverford will travel to Muhlenberg on Tuesday with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m.