FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Haverford College baseball team (1-4) dropped a heartbreaker to Muskingum (4-2), as a thrilling contest went the way of the Fighting Muskies at Terry Park on Tuesday morning.
Haverford fell behind early as Muskingum tallied four first-inning runs against first-year starter Colin Lewis. Ryan Schwartz punched through a two-RBI single before Muskingum added a run on an RBI groundout and another on a wild pitch in the frame.
The Fords chipped away at the lead, with Daniel Rosman opening up the fifth inning with a single down the left field line. With Rosman still waiting patiently at first, Haverford mounted a two-out rally. Jonny Flieder singled ahead of an RBI base hit from Jack Wallis. After Zach Crampton reached on a Muskie error, Kyle Beach posted an RBI fielder's choice, and suddenly Haverford was back within two runs.
In the seventh, Haverford got a bit closer as Zach Becker singled and Wallis walked. Crampton then reached on an infield single, plating Becker to trim the advantage to just 4-3.
The Fighting Muskies scored one in the bottom of the seventh, but Chuck Norton began the eighth with an infield single and Harry Genth then reached on a fielding error. Becker loaded the bases with his single up the middle, and Flieder connected on a two-RBI triple into the right-field gap to tie the score at 5-5.
Muskingum pulled ahead 6-5 in the bottom of the inning, using an error, a hit batter, and a walk to load the bases. Drew Doyle struck out Allex Santacroce for a huge second out, but an infield single off the bat of pinch hitter Peyton Carr ended up plating the go-ahead run.
The Fords had one last rally in the ninth with two down as Landry and Norton were each hit by pitches, but the rally ended there as Clark Jennings put a bow on his win with a scoreless 1.1 innings of work, inducing a groundout to end the contest.
Lewis departed after three innings, notching four strikeouts, and gave way to a strong performance from Sam Cohen, who kept Muskingum off guard over his four innings, striking out seven and allowing just one run. In total, Haverford's pitching logged 13 strikeouts, a feat it accomplished just six times last season.
Haverford School product Flieder was the only player on either team to record a three-hit day, as he was a homer shy of the cycle on Tuesday. Haverford finished with 11 total hits as Rosman (2) and Becker (2) also logged multi-hit days.
Baseball now returns to action at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic tomorrow, lacing up for a single contest against North Central (Minneapolis), with first pitch at Terry Park slated for noon.