HAVERFORD, Pa. – In the Centennial Conference opening doubleheader for both teams, the Haverford College baseball team breezed past visiting McDaniel in both ends of action on Sunday afternoon, taking a 10-0 win in game one before posting a 17-9 win in game two. Haverford sits at 11-7 (2-0 CC) with the pair of victories while McDaniel falls to 8-11 (0-2 CC) in defeat. Matt Goss homered in both ends of the doubleheader, including a grand slam in game two, picking up six RBI on the afternoon.
Game One: Haverford 10, McDaniel 0
In game one, Haverford scored runs in each inning through the fourth frame against McDaniel starting hurler Zach Fortuna (2-4). Ben Verducci doubled in the bottom of the first, Goss homered in the second and Sam Partee delivered a two-run homer to center field in the third.
Partee clubbed another Fortuna pitch past the outfield fence in the bottom of the fourth to cap a four-run inning that also included a Spencer Sohmer sacrifice fly and a Verducci RBI single as the Fords went up 8-0.
Will Karp added a two-RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to send Haverford to the 10-0 advantage that would hold as the final score. Verducci finished with three hits while Harrison Burns extended his hitting streak to 10 games with two singles. Will Karp also had a pair of hits in the contest.
Haverford was a force on the basepaths, swiping 11 bags during the contest. Thomas Vollaro had three steals while Ethan-Lee Tyson added two. The total was the third most in Haverford history and the most since the Fords stole 15 at Penn State Berks in March of 2013. The total also tied the Kannerstein Field record.
The Fords received another outstanding start from Jared Deveau (3-1), who went seven frames, allowing just five hits and striking out three while facing 24 batters. Deveau lowered his ERA on the season to just 0.38 in 24 innings of work. Daniel Joffe tossed the final two frames, allowing just one baserunner via a walk as Fords pitching did not allow an extra base hit.
Game Two Haverford 17, McDaniel 9
In game two, Haverford went to work against McDaniel starter Jordan Rhodes (1-2), manufacturing a run in the bottom of the first on a wild-pitch after Lee-Tyson singled and stole second, later advancing to third on a groundout.
Nick Valori equalized things in the top of the second for the Green Terror as the contest was knotted at 1-1 heading into the bottom of the second.
Burns extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI single in the bottom of the second and Sohmer followed up with a single up the middle to plate two runners. With Verducci up, Sohmer broke for second with Lee-Tyson at third base. The throw attempted to pick off Sohmer allowed Lee-Tyson to steal home as the Fords made it 5-1 with a perfectly executed double steal.
McDaniel used an error and a wild pitch to score three runs in the top of the third, and tied things up at 5-5 in the fourth with an Eric Grantland RBI triple.
Undaunted by the newly minted tie ballgame, Haverford went to work in the bottom of the fifth inning, erupting for 12 runs on eight hits to take a 17-5 advantage.
Sohmer led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Ben Verducci's double. With the bases loaded, Matt Goss walked to plate a run. Ben Furlong and Harrison Burns hit RBI singles before Thomas Vollaro delivered a sacrifice fly. Ethan Lee-Tyson knocked home two with a double and Verducci came up for the second time in the inning, hitting a single to score a pair. Matt Goss then had the biggest hit of the inning, a grand slam that cleared the bases for a 17-5 lead. The Fords sent 17 hitters to the plate in the frame, facing three McDaniel pitchers.
McDaniel added two runs each in the seventh and eighth innings, but Haverford was in command at that point of the contest.
Goss led the way with five RBI while Furlong, Burns, Lee-Tyson and Sohmer all had multiple RBI contests. Lee-Tyson and Goss each had three hits.
Dylan Livingston got the start for Haverford, tossing four innings while allowing three earned runs. Brandon Jenkins (1-0) picked up the win with two innings of scoreless relief, striking out three. Austin Castellanos, John Masella and Patrick O'Shea combined for the final three innings of work to seal victory.
Haverford will next return to action on Tuesday against Ursinus at Kannerstein Field. Game time slated for 3:30 p.m. as the Centennial Conference season continues.