BALTIMORE – The Haverford College baseball team fell to the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats and the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays by identical 6-3 scores in the Centennial Conference Tournament at Babb Field on Saturday.
Franklin and Marshall 6, Haverford College 3
Freshman Matt Goss led off the game with a double and came around to score on a two-out double by junior Zach Taylor. The next hitter, junior Nick Ott, ripped a base hit to left that scored Taylor and freshman Mike Schmandt which gave the Fords a 3-0 advantage.
After registering just one hit through the first three innings, the Diplomats finally got through against senior Tommy Bergjans in the fourth frame. Dan Marano struck out, but advanced to second on a throwing error. Two batters later, David Iacobucci singled home Marano to get F&M on the board.
Franklin and Marshall kept its rally going in the sixth inning. After a single and walk, Iacobucci knocked a ground rule double to right center field and then an RBI ground out by Luke Sieb tied the game at three. In the next inning, an RBI double to left center from Brett Poniors put the Diplomats in front. With runners on first and third, a wild pitch on an intentional walk gave Franklin and Marshall its fifth run of the contest.
The Diplomats added an insurance run in the eighth inning to take the game by the final score. Ott finished with a team-high two hits and two RBI. Bergjans struck out 10 Diplomats hitters in 6 2/3 innings of work in the loss.
Johns Hopkins 6, Haverford 3
Hopkins scored twice in its first at-bat on a two-out two-run single by Daniel Albert. An RBI ground out by Craig Hoelzer gave the Blue Jays their third run of the contest in the third inning.
Conor Reynolds's three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning put the Blue Jays ahead, 6-0. In the sixth, Goss hit his first career home run to cut the Fords' deficit to four. An error gave Haverford its third run of the contest.
The Fords brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but couldn't get any closer.
Goss and Schmandt recorded multi-hit games for the Fords. Freshman Patrick O'Shea threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief, striking out four in the loss.
The senior class of Marley Randazzo, Casey Fox, Mike Tentilucci, Chance Griffiths, Clay Bloszies, Michael de Armas, Max Gerard and Bergjans finish their careers with 90 victories, two Centennial Conference titles and four straight conference playoff berths.
Bergjans graduates as the program's all-time leader in wins (27), strikeouts (374), and innings pitched (282 2/3) while placing in the top five in ERA (1.69) and lowest opponent's batting average (.169). Fox finishes tied for fourth in hits (171) and total bases (247), tied for sixth in home runs (14), eighth in runs scored (119) and ninth in RBI (100).