HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College baseball team is set to travel to Moosic, Pa. where Misericordia University will be hosting the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional tournament. Head coach Dave Beccaria's Fords received an automatic bid after winning the Centennial Conference Tournament for the third time since 2012.
The Fords won eight of their first nine games over Spring Break in Florida and continued stellar play upon their return home, going 13-5 in the conference to finish in second place in the regular season. Their pitching staff is led by starters Stephen Ridings (76 strikeouts this season, second in the conference) and Justin Herring (1.31 ERA, the conference leader). Their batting order features a well-balanced lineup that includes six players hitting over .300.
The team has played consistent baseball all season, but really found its stride towards the end of the year and has won its last seven games. Haverford players have hit at least one home run in each of the seven games.
In the conference tournament this season, Haverford swept its opponents in four games en route to the championship. The Fords' run included two wins over top-seeded Johns Hopkins, which later qualified for the NCAA Regionals as an at-large team. Freshman right fielder Ethan Lee-Tyson was named MVP of the Centennial Conference Tournament after batting .667 on 10-for-15 hitting out of the leadoff spot to boost the team's offense. Lee-Tyson went 2-for-5 with his third stolen base of the tournament in the championship game.
This is the team's third Mid-Atlantic Regional appearance (all coming under head coach Dave Beccaria). Haverford also qualified in 2012 and 2014. As the No. 8 seed in 2014, the Fords claimed a 3-1 victory over top-seeded Moravian before later being eliminated.
The Fords (27-12) enter NCAA regional play seeded fourth among eight teams in the double-elimination bracket. Host Misericordia sits atop the field as the No. 1 seed, followed by familiar opponent St. John Fisher at No. 2, No. 3 Salisbury, and Haverford's first opponent No. 5 UMass-Boston. The field is rounded out by No. 6 Kean, No. 7 Salve Regina, and No. 8 Penn State-Berks. The Fords split a doubleheader with St. John Fisher early in the year. The Cardinals bested Haverford in the first game but the Fords equalized in game two with a tight 3-2 victory.
Haverford's first game will be against UMass-Boston (28-14) on Wednesday at 10 a.m. on PNC Field. The Beacons were one of 14 schools to receive an at-large bid. Coming out of the Little East Conference, this marks the second year in UMass-Boston's history that it will be competing in the regional tournament. The Deacons finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in their conference but were eliminated in the Little East Conference Tournament after being defeated twice by No. 6 Western Connecticut State University.
Statistically, Haverford holds the advantage in scoring (almost seven runs per game to UMass-Boston's 6.5) and also in batting average (.298-.281). The Beacon's offense is led by infielder Dave Murphy who slugged nine homeruns this season on a .325 hitting clip. The two teams' only common opponent this season was Rowan University, with both Haverford and UMass-Boston suffering losses in their respective matchups.
The Fords' second opponent will be determined by the outcome of the first game. If they defeat UMass-Boston, they'll play the winner of the Misericordia/Penn State-Berks game. If they lose, they'll play the loser of that game. Misericordia (34-11) is currently ranked No. 24 in the latest d3baseball.com/NCBWA poll. Right behind them, second-seeded St. John Fisher is ranked No. 25. Haverford is receiving votes, but hasn't cracked the top 25 this season.
The regional tournament will continue from Wednesday, May 18 until the championship game on Sunday, May 22. The winner of that game will advance to NCAA Super Regionals in Wisconsin. All games will be available to watch live online along with live stats.