HAVERFORD, Pa. - Pitcher Kevin Goff, making his first start of the season, threw seven scoreless innings to help lead Haverford College to a 7-0 Centennial Conference shutout of visiting Franklin & Marshall College on Tuesday afternoon at Kannerstein Field.
Justin Coulter collected two singles and a pair of doubles and registered four RBIs for Haverford (16-16, 8-5 CC) as the first five batters in the line-up accounted for all 10 of the Fords' hits. Aaron Gillette rapped out two hits to lead F&M (16-18, 5-8) at the plate in the loss.
The day wasn't all easy for Goff who worked his way out of a few jams along the way before giving way to reliever Mike Bozzi to start the eighth. The Diplomats had runners in scoring positions in the first and third innings but both times Goff was able to induce inning-ending groundouts.
The biggest threat from F&M was a one-out bases-loaded jam in the top of the fourth but a double play grounder diffused the best shot the Diplomats would have to erase the shutout. Goff allowed just two more base runners to get into scoring positions over his final three innings of work and Bozzi put down the Diplomats in order in the eighth and ninth to close out the win.
Coulter drove in the game's first run, pushing home Nick Miranda in the bottom of the first with a single down the right-field line. Another big blow from Coulter came in the fourth -- after F&M's bases loaded but empty inning -- when he launched a double over the center-fielder's head that scored William Bannard and Jake Chaplin. Coulter doubled in the sixth to plate Miranda for his final RBI of the game.
Casey Fox and Chaplin each finished with two hits while Miranda and Jeremy Zoll had one hit apiece for the Fords. Miranda, Chaplin and Bannard each scored twice with Coulter scoring the other run.
The combined shutout by Goff and Bozzi was the first shutout win of the season for Haverford which, combined with Tuesday's other results in the league, pulls into second place within the Centennial standings behind leader Johns Hopkins University.
Goff (3-0) scattered five hits and five walks while striking out three to earn the win. Bozzi didn't allow a base runner and fanned two. For Franklin & Marshall, starter Matt Valente (2-5) took the loss after surrendering four runs off of five Haverford hits over his five innings on the mound.
Haverford was scheduled to square off against host Penn State-Berks on Wednesday afternoon before the game was cancelled so the Fords' next outing will be a rematch with F&M on Friday in Lancaster, Pa.