LANCASTER, Pa. – The Haverford College baseball team used strong performances from junior Zach Taylor (4-for-5) and senior Tommy Bergjans (6 innings, 11 strikeouts) to defeat the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats 8-1 at Caplan Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Haverford got the scoring started early. Sophomore Ben Verducci led off the game with a double in the top of the first, moved to third on a fly out and then scored on a passed ball. After freshman Spencer Sohmer reached via an error, sophomore Yannick Villanueva doubled him in one batter later.
Bergjans struck out six of the first eight Franklin and Marshall hitters before the Fords added three more insurance runs in the third inning. With two out, four straight singles gave Haverford its third and fourth runs of the game. Taylor stole home to set the score at 5-0. The home team got one back on an RBI double by Dan Marano in its half of the third frame.
From the fourth through sixth innings, the Diplomats could only muster two hits off of Bergjans. The senior scattered five hits, allowed an earned run, two walks and struck out 11 hitters. It's his eighth straight start of at least 10 strikeouts and 17th 10-plus strikeout outing of his career.
Freshmen Ben Furlong's RBI double and Matt Goss' RBI groundout pushed the Fords' advantage to 7-1. Taylor knocked home junior Nick Ott in the seventh inning to wrap up the scoring.
Taylor recorded a career-high four hits in the contest while matching his career-high three stolen bases. Furlong also tallied a career-best two hits. Ott had a multi-hit game and scored two runs. The Fords had five doubles in the contest and struck 14 Diplomats batters. Senior Max Gerard threw three scoreless innings in relief to pick up his second career save in the win.
The baseball team has now won six of its last eight games. Head coach Dave Beccaria's squad's record improves to 11-17 overall and 7-8 in the Centennial Conference while Franklin and Marshall fell to 22-8 this year and 10-5 in conference play. Haverford will have a non-conference game tomorrow as it travels Gwynedd Mercy with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.