HAVERFORD, Pa. – Haverford College's baseball team heads into the postseason on a four-game win streak after closing out its regular season slate Tuesday afternoon with an 8-5 non-league victory over visiting Widener University.
The Fords (30-6) raised the bar one win higher with the victory over the Pride (21-13), increasing a single-season wins mark that had grown to 29 after winning three straight over Centennial opponents.
Tuesday's win saw contributor's from the usual suspects, as well as a surprise outing from the Fords' regular third-baseman, Mike Galetta, who started only his second outing of the year on the mound for Haverford.
Galetta put together four innings of solid work holding Widener scoreless surrendering only three hits and a walk while striking out two. The Pride picked up a harmless single in the first and went down in order in the second and third innings before causing a bit of trouble for Galetta in the fourth.
Clinging to a 1-0 lead, Galetta gave up a pair of hits and his only walk of the game in the fourth but worked out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the Fords in front.
Galetta's teammates created some breathing room in the home half of the fourth posting six runs on the scoreboard off three different Widener pitchers.
The big Haverford inning was keyed by consecutive doubles from Louis DeRosa and Jake Chaplin, followed by singles from Charlie Carluccio, Jeff Butera and Galetta. The hit parade produced five RBIs with the sixth RBI coming later in the inning off Bobby Bailey's bat on a sacrifice fly to center field that brought home Butera for the sixth run of the frame.
Widener picked up three runs off a pair of relievers for Galetta in the middle innings but Mike Bozzi came on in the seventh to throw two scoreless innings before handing the ball to Patrick Falkoff who closed out the win in the ninth.
Haverford base-runners were a terror for the Widener pitcher's and catcher's throughout the contest. The Fords stole nine bases in the game bringing their season total to 135, which breaks the previous team high of 130 steals in the 2009 season. Carluccio led the carousel on the base paths Tuesday with three steals.
Galetta pulled double-duty in the win picking up three hits and scoring once for the Fords on the offensive side of the ledger. Chaplin and Carluccio also had multi-hit games for Haverford. DeRosa and Chaplin shared the team-lead in the RBI department with two apiece.
Galetta (1-0) earned the win for Haverford but his starting counterpart, Widener's Joe Sessa (0-1), didn't fare as well taking the loss after giving up just one run on two hits and six walks.
The game was the final regular-season appearance on Class of '16 field for eight Haverford seniors, but it was not the final contest on their home field of four years.
Jake Alter, Bailey, Butera, Carluccio, DeRosa, Galetta, Dan Hochberg and Colin Sarafin will get in one more game on campus Friday, April 29 when the Fords host Franklin & Marshall College in the opening round of the Centennial postseason tournament.
The Fords, seeded second behind regular season champion Johns Hopkins University, split the season's two-game set against third-seed F&M in back-to-back games last week, as each team won on its home field. Game time for Friday's contest is scheduled tentatively for 3 p.m.