BALTIMORE, Md. – Haverford College clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Centennial Conference postseason baseball tournament by sweeping host Johns Hopkins University on Saturday, downing the Blue Jays 4-3 in the opener and then 9-7 in the nightcap.
Haverford (21-17, 12-6 CC) is still in the hunt for the top seed but Hopkins (23-12-2, 12-4) needs to win only one of two against last-place Muhlenberg College (18-20, 2-14) on Sunday in Allentown, Pa., to clinch the top spot in the standings. Either way, the Fords know they will host an opening round game of the league's tournament which begins Friday, May 4.
Saturday's opener was a battle of each team's staff aces, Tommy Bergjans for the Fords and Alex Eliopoulos for the Blue Jays.
Bergjans earned the complete-game win limiting the Blue Jays to single runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings, otherwise scattering 10 hits and a walk while fanning six. Eliopoulos (7-1) suffered his first defeat of the season giving up all four of Haverford's runs off of 14 hits and a pair of walks.
Hopkins scratched for the game's first run in the bottom of the fifth but Alex Hudak's double to right field in the top of the sixth was followed by Bobby Hubley's RBI-single up the middle bringing Hudak home for the tying run.
After the Blue Jays added a go-ahead run in the bottom of the frame, Hudak and Hubley were at it again helping to propel the Fords ahead in the seventh. Hudak's two-out infield single brought home Jake Chaplin and Casey Fox, and Hudak crossed the plate on Hubley's single to right field.
Hubley finished 4-for-5 in the win collecting a pair of RBIs. Hudak, with two RBIs, Chaplin, Fox and Marley Randazzo all registered a multi-hit game for Haverford.
Game 2 was a high-scoring affair with the teams combining for 16 runs off of 26 hits, 16 from the Fords.
The initial big-inning for Haverford came in the top of the sixth when it erased a two-run deficit with four runs. Matt Liscovitz scored the opening run on a squeeze play with William Bannard supplying the well-placed sacrifice bunt. Later in the inning both Mike Tentilucci and Nick Miranda scored on Chaplin's double to right-center field, and Justin Coulter's single to right plated Chaplin to provide the Fords with a 6-4 lead.
The runs kept coming with the scoring eventually settling at 7-7 before Haverford took command with a run in the eighth and an insurance marker in the ninth.
Jeremy Zoll notched the game-winning RBI with his single to left that scored Miranda in the top of the eighth, then Bannard's bunt single in the ninth brought home Hudak who had led off the inning by reaching on an error by the Hopkins shortstop.
The starting pitchers from both teams took their lumps in the nightcap. Both Jonny Black for Haverford and Tyler Goldstein each surrendered five runs during their time on the mound.
Kevin Goff, who came on in the sixth after Black gave up a lead-off home run, pitched four strong innings to earn the win. Goff (4-0) allowed two unearned runs on just three hits and a walk. He also fanned five.
Hopkins' Aaron Schwartz (4-1), the Blue Jays' fourth pitcher in the game, took the loss giving up one earned, and one unearned run over the final two innings.
Chaplin and Liscovitz both had three hits in the Game 2 victory, and Chaplin, Tentilucci and Bannard each collected a pair of RBIs. Miranda, Fox and Hudak scored two runs apiece.
Haverford will head into the Centennial tournament on a roll. Following a four-game losing streak, the Fords closed with an 8-1 stretch including wins in the final three games of the regular season.
Rain outs from earlier in the regular season forced several teams to join Hopkins with Sunday doubleheaders leaving the final two spots in the playoffs and all four seedings up for grabs until the last day of the season.