OGDEN, Utah – Former Haverford College baseball player Tommy Bergjans '15 made his professional debut last night for the Ogden Raptors, a rookie affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bergjans threw a scoreless fifth inning for the Raptors, striking out a batter. Ogden defeated the Idaho Falls Chukars, 6-4 with Bergjans also picking up the victory.
The three-time All-American was selected in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball (MLB) amateur draft by the Dodgers with the 252nd overall pick. He was third Ford in program history to be selected in the draft as Chaon Garland '91 was a third round draft pick of the Oakland A's in the 1990 MLB Draft while Dean Laganosky '09 was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 45th round of the 2008 draft.
The Fords have had five players play minor league baseball, most recently Jake Chaplin '12 who signed in 2012 as a non-drafted free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers, with several more playing professionally overseas. Haverford has had one player reach the majors with Bill Lindsay '09 playing in 19 games for the Cleveland Naps (precursor to the Cleveland Indians) in 1911.
Bergjans was fantastic in his senior season at Haverford College, finishing with a 5-3 record, 1.07 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 67 1/3 innings. The Manhattan Beach, Calif. native was the NCAA Division III leader in strikeouts and strikeouts per nine innings (14.48), second in ERA, 10th in strikeout to walk ratio (7.93) and 14th in WHIP (.92). He became the first Ford in program history to strike out over 100 batters in a season and is the Centennial Conference all-time leader in strikeouts. The Fords' pitcher posted eight 10+ strikeout outings in 2015 and finished his career with 18 total.
In 2014, Bergjans sported a 9-2 record, a 1.08 ERA, 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings and a .88 WHIP. The right-hander ranked among the Division III national leaders in hits allowed per nine innings (second, 4.58), strikeouts (third, 96), strikeouts per nine innings (seventh), ERA (ninth), victories (10th) and WHIP (14th). He was named an All-American first team member by D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and became the eighth player in conference history to earn back-to-back Pitcher of the Year awards. During the summer after his junior year, Bergjans pitched in the Cape Cod League, the most prestigious amateur baseball league in the country, for the Orleans Firebirds.
As a sophomore, Bergjans was a D3baseball.com All-American second team member while also making the website's All-Mid-Atlantic Region first team and ABCA All-Region second team. He was named to the all-conference first team and the Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Year, a first for a Haverford pitcher. During his freshman season, he was awarded an All-Centennial Conference second team accolade after going 6-4 with a 2.72 ERA and 78 strikeouts. His strikeouts (third) and ERA (fourth) placed in him in the top five among conference foes.
The pitcher graduated as the program's all-time leader in ERA (1.69), lowest opponent's batting average (.195), most strikeouts per nine (11.91), wins (27), innings pitched (282 2/3), strikeouts (374). He also led Haverford to the Centennial Conference Championship in 2012 and 2014 including victories in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional. Bergjans was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-American third team and 2013 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area team. He capped off his career at Haverford College with receiving the Varsity Cup which is awarded to the most outstanding athlete of the senior class.
The Haverford College athletics department congratulates Tommy on his professional debut and first professional victory! To follow Bergjans' season, check out the Ogden Raptors' website.