HAVERFORD, Pa. – Down to its last out in the bottom of the ninth, Haverford College's baseball team scored the tying run to send the game to extra-innings where another deficit was overcome in a thrilling 7-6, 11-inning Centennial Conference win Sunday afternoon over visiting Swarthmore College.
The Fords (19-4, 4-2 CC) trailed the Garnet (12-8, 3-3) by a run, 5-4, in the ninth with Swarthmore pitcher Zach Weiner one out away from clinching the win for the visitors.
Jake Chaplin singled through the left side then advanced on a passed ball, pushing the tying run to second base with Louis DeRosa at the plate. DeRosa lashed a single into center field that brought Chaplin home for the tying run but Weiner was able to close out the inning to send the game into extra frames.
Neither team was able to break the tie in the 10th though the Fords finished the bottom of the inning with what would have been the winning run standing at third base after a lead-off double by Mike Galetta.
Swarthmore generated a run in the top of the 11th off Mike Bozzi who had come on to pitch in relief of Haverford starter Colin Sarafin at the start of the eighth inning. Consecutive one-out walks ended Bozzi's day and he gave way to Patrick Falkoff.
Pinch-hitter James Beall snuck a single through the middle off Falkoff to plate the go-ahead run, credited against Bozzi, but Falkoff enticed the next batter, Anthony Montalbano, into an easy fly-out to left that squelched any further damage.
As they'd done three times already in the game, the Fords rallied from behind beginning with lead-off hits from Alex Hudak and Chaplin. Justin Coulter had come in to run for Hudak and came around to score the tying run on Chaplin's double to the base of the wall in right-center field off Swarthmore reliever Ramsey Walker.
DeRosa reached safely on a bunt single up the third-base line which moved Chaplin over to third. After the Garnet allowed DeRosa to steal second, they intentionally walked Charlie Carluccio to load the bases and set up a force play.
Walker and Swarthmore got what they wanted when Jeff Butera rapped a ball to third where Montalbano handled the grounder and threw home to get Chaplin out on the force.
With one out, the base loaded and William Bannard at the plate, Walker threw a high fastball that skipped off catcher Mike Waterhouse's glove all the way to the backstop allowing DeRosa to race home for the winning run.
Matt Liscovitz helped the Fords, twice, early in the game picking up an RBI in the fourth that tied the game at 1-1, then launching a Crawford pitch far over the left-center field fence in the sixth for a three-run home run that tied the score at 4-4.
Falkoff (2-0) earned the win for the Fords after pitching two-thirds of an inning and allowing two hits. Walker (2-1) took the loss for the Garnet pitching one-third of an inning and allowing two runs on three hits and one walk.
Sarafin pitched seven-innings for Haverford and surrendered three earned runs plus two more unearned runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out four.
Swarthmore starter Kyle Crawford threw eight innings and allowed four runs on eight hits, two walks and six strikeouts.
Sunday's victory was the Fords' fifth in-a-row, a winning streak that will be challenged in Haverford's next outing Tuesday afternoon at Muhlenberg College in another Centennial contest.
The pair of wins over the Garnet also improves Haverford's lead over Swarthmore in the Hood Cup race to eight points and, with only seven sports left to compete, clinches the 2010-11 trophy for the Fords.