HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader to visiting Johns Hopkins University Saturday at Class of '16 Field. The 12th-ranked Blue Jays took Game 1, 9-3, and won the nightcap, 5-3, in the Centennial Conference opener for both teams.
In Game 1, Haverford (14-4, 0-2 CC) had a 3-1 lead after three innings, but the Blue Jays scored a run in the fifth and broke the game open with a seven-run sixth.
After Hopkins (9-5, 2-0) scored in the first inning, the Fords countered in the bottom of the second when Jeremy Zoll tripled to center field and scored on a Matt Liscovitz infield single. Haverford tacked on a pair in the third on Jeff Butera's two-run homer to right field.
Haverford starter Bryan Henrick (2-1) was solid through five innings, escaping a pair of jams in the third and fifth innings while stranding eight Hopkins runners on base. In the sixth, a leadoff double by Joe Borrelli, followed by a sacrifice bunt and an RBI single by Sam Wernick ended Henrick's day. Mike Bozzi came on in relief of Henrick and issued two walks and a single that scored two runs. Bozzi was lifted for Colin Sarafin who surrendered a walk and then a grand slam to Chris Wilhelm for a six-run cushion.
Hopkins' starter Sam Eagleson (2-0) settled in after the early innings and only allowed three baserunners from the fifth inning on. He gave up nine hits and struck out eight in the complete game effort.
Alex Eliopoulos (4-1) limited the Fords to just three hits in his nine innings of work in Game 2. Leadoff home runs to left center by Mike Galetta in the second and Charlie Carluccio in the fourth accounted for two of HC's three runs. Haverford's third run came in the seventh when Zoll drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on Justin Coulter's sacrifice fly.
The Blue Jays scored twice in the second inning, including a solo homer by Kyle Neverman. In the third, Hopkins scored two more runs on Aaron Borenstein's RBI single down the right field line.
Hopkins scored another run in the sixth which ended Jonny Williams' (3-1) day. Williams gave up an RBI single with one out and exited for Jonny Black who got Anthony Venditti to ground into an inning-ending double play. Black also induced double play balls to end the seventh and eighth innings as well. Black allowed just one hit and no runs in his 3.2 innings of relief. Despite giving up 10 hits, Williams fanned nine Hopkins batters in 5.1 innings pitched.
After allowing two walks and a run in the seventh, Eliopoulos retired eight consecutive batters to close out the game.
The Fords travel to Swarthmore College Tuesday afternoon for a Centennial Conference contest. First-pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.