FT. MYERS, Fla. – The Haverford College baseball team finished its Spring Break trip with a flourish, taking down North Park by a final score of 8-4 on Saturday morning at Terry Park. Haverford was paced by a 4 for 4 effort from Sam Partee, who homered and posted three RBI, and a 3 for 5 day from Ben Verducci, who homered and also added three RBI in the win.
Partee finishes the Fort Myers trip hitting .524, with 11 hits in 21 tries to lead Haverford offensively. The Fords hit .290 as a collective unit in Southwest Florida and went 6-3 in the nine game swing.
Haverford went down early in the ballgame as North Park was able to strike for a pair of first inning runs against Haverford first year starter Nathan Vucovich. Cullen Gilbertson drove in Jared Cantu and Seth Dvorak for the early 2-0 advantage.
The Fords struck back against Vikings Brent Kessinger (0-3) in the fourth inning. Spencer Sohmer doubled with one out and Verducci then delivered his first career homer to left field, scoring a pair. Partee doubled down the left field ahead of Matt Goss, who moved the runner to third base. Ben Furlong poked an RBI single through, giving the Fords a 3-2 lead.
Haverford added two more in the fifth after Will Karp reached on an error and stole third. Ethan Lee-Tyson singled and with two down, Verducci delivered an RBI single. Verducci would later score on Partee's second base hit in as many innings as the Fords took a 5-2 advantage.
Cantu singled and Dvorak walked to lead off the fifth, and the Vikings had thoughts of equalizing. Jared Deveau took over for Vucovich with one down and after a double steal; Anthony Bragg delivered an RBI groundout to pull North Park a bit closer. Gilbertson singled to tighten things up further to a one-run contest at 5-4.
The seventh allowed Haverford to regain some breathing room with a two-out rally. Josh Smith took over for Kessinger and the Fords pulled off the rare double steal, with Sohmer coming home as Verducci broke for second to force a throw. The next batter, Partee, clubbed a homer to left for an 8-4 advantage that would hold as the final score.
Deveau (2-0) finished the contest to pick up the win in relief for Haverford, allowing seven hits but no runs over 4.2 innings of relief, striking out two.
With the Sunshine State now in the rearview, the Fords will stay busy with a five game week slated. Weather permitting; Haverford resumes its schedule in the Keystone State on Tuesday afternoon with a 3:30 pm first pitch at Main Line foe Immaculata.