Baseball Splits Doubleheader at NYU

Sam Partee
Sam Partee

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Haverford College baseball team split a doubleheader against previously undefeated NYU on Saturday afternoon at MCU Park, the home of MILB's Brooklyn Cyclones. The Fords overcame an early deficit to sprint to an 8-2 victory for the squad's seventh straight win in game one before suffering a 13-3 setback in the late afternoon contest. Michael Schwarze went 5-5 in the first game of the day, tying the Haverford program record for hits in a single game in the process. Sam Partee finished the twinbill with five RBIs. The Fords are now 7-8 on the season while NYU is 13-1.

In game one, NYU struck for two early runs against Haverford starter Ryan Giovenco (2-1). The Violets plated runs in the first and second innings as a Colman Hendershot double gave NYU an early 1-0 lead and a Cooper Halpern RBI groundout extended the lead to 2-0.

Haverford struck back in the top of the third inning against Ford Ladd (3-1). With one out, Will Karp singled and Ethan Lee-Tyson followed with a single of his own. Spencer Sohmer tripled into the right center field gap, plating the pair to tie the score. Owen Plambeck followed with an RBI groundout to give Haverford the 3-2 lead and the next hitter, Sam Partee, launched a home run to left field, peppering the video board beyond the left field fence for a 4-2 advantage.

Giovenco tossed a 1-2-3 third inning, twirling a shutdown inning and following it up with another perfect frame in the fourth. Partee added an RBI single in the fifth and Sohmer collected two more RBIs on a double into the gap in the sixth as Haverford extended its lead to 7-2. Meanwhile, Giovenco extended his streak to 14 straight batters retired with a perfect bottom of the sixth inning.

After Michael Schwarze led off the seventh with a home run to left, Giovenco allowed a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the seventh before Andrew Johnson came into the contest in relief. Johnson induced a double play to send Haverford into the eighth inning with the 8-2 advantage.

Giovenco finished the contest with 6.1 innings pitched. He allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out four on the afternoon. Johnson chipped in 1.2 innings of relief, striking out two.  Justin Herring made his second appearance of the season in the ninth inning, tossing a perfect inning to hand Haverford its seventh straight victory.

Schwarze was unstoppable at the plate in the contest, logging two singles, two doubles and a home run for 10 total bases. Will Karp had a three-hit day while Lee-Tyson, Sohmer and Partee all had multiple hits in the triumph. NYU was held to just two extra base hits as Hendershot and Ryan McLaughlin both roped doubles in a losing effort.

In game two, Haverford sent Nathan Bass (1-2) to the hill against Tim Salvadore (3-1). In the bottom of the first, the Violets tagged Bass for four runs as triples from Hendershot and David Conforti were the big blows in the inning.

NYU tacked on three more in the second as Haverford went to the bullpen, summoning Brandon Jenkins to finish the second inning. Daniel Joffe began the third inning on the mound for Haverford and largely righted the ship, allowing just one run on five hits over four innings of work. Joffe struck out two in his 79-pitch relief outing.

Ethan Lee-Tyson led off the sixth with a double and came into score on Partee's RBI single as Haverford got its first run of the contest against Salvadore. Pat O'Shea tossed a perfect 1-2-3 seventh inning and Haverford clawed closer at 8-3 with a two-run eighth inning, highlighted by Partee's two-RBI double.

A five-run eighth inning for NYU put things out of reach for the Fords, who were forced to settle for a split against the Violets.

Lee-Tyson and Partee each had multi-hit games in the late afternoon contest for Haverford.

Salvadore went seven innings, scattering five hits and striking out three for the win for NYU.

The Fords will return to action on Tuesday, March 27 at home against No. 5 Rowan. First pitch for the highly anticipated contest is slated for 3:30 p.m. on Kannerstein Field.