HAVERFORD, Pa. – Haverford College's 26th-ranked baseball team fell to Franklin & Marshall College, 6-5, Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Centennial Conference postseason tournament, pushing the Fords to the brink of elimination in the double-elimination event.

The second-seeded Fords (30-7) must defeat fourth-seed Ursinus College—which lost Friday to top-seed Johns Hopkins University by a 10-7 score—Saturday morning in an elimination game at 9 a.m. in Baltimore, Md., to advance in the tournament.

Third-seed F&M (22-16) will square off Saturday against Hopkins at 12:30 p.m.

The Fords trailed F&M 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning but began their rally with consecutive singles from Matt Liscovitz and Louis DeRosa to start the inning. Jeff Butera's two-out, two-RBI single to the short gap in right-center field scored both Liscovitz and DeRosa trimming the margin to one.

F&M reliever Evan Lang induced an infield pop-up to end the game, though, pushing the Fords into the precarious position of win-or-go-home for the remainder of the weekend at Johns Hopkins.

Bobby Bailey and Alex Hudack each picked up an RBI in the loss, both coming in the fourth inning when the Fords took their only lead of the game, bouncing back from an early 1-0 deficit.

Colin Sarafin (5-2) started on the mound for the Fords and took the loss after surrendering four runs on 13 hits and three walks over six and one-third innings.

F&M starter Mike Duranti (6-2) pitched eight innings and allowed three runs on four hits and seven walks while striking out five. Lang pitched the ninth and earned the save for the Diplomats despite giving up two runs off three Haverford hits.

The winner of Saturday morning's Haverford/Ursinus game will take on the loser of the early-afternoon's F&M/Hopkins contest in an elimination game slated to begin at 4 p.m.

The championship game will be played Sunday in Baltimore at Noon, with an 'if necessary' game to follow afterward.