CARLISLE, Pa. – Haverford College's baseball team has embarked on another win streak, pushing an unbeaten string to four after downing host Dickinson College by scores of 5-2 and 11-8 Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action at MacPhail Field.
The 21st-ranked Fords (18-3, 3-3 CC) began the season with a program record 14-game win streak. Saturday's sweep at the hands of Haverford lengthens a Dickinson (9-15, 0-6) losing streak to seven.
The opener Saturday (box score) saw the Red Devils jump to the lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning. The advantage didn't last long, though, as the Fords tied the game with a run in the top of the fourth, then pushed three more runs across in the fifth for a lead that would hold the remainder of the game.
Nick Miranda's single and two stolen bases in the fourth made for an easy RBI by Matt Liscovitz whose groundout to the pitcher allowed Haverford to erase the early deficit.
The three-run fifth began when Mike Tentilucci reached on an error. He raced all the way home when Nick Ott bashed an RBI double off Red Devil starter Ryan Kramer. After moving over to third on Luke Frankiw's sacrifice bunt, Ott scored the second run of the inning on a bunt single from William Bannard who was eventually able to make it all the way around the base paths, scoring on Casey Fox's RBI single to make it 4-1 in favor of the visiting team.
Dickinson scored its first earned run of the game off Fords starter Kyle Waney in the sixth, but Waney would close out the inning before giving way to reliever Patrick Falkoff at the start of the seventh.
Falkoff rolled through the Dickinson lineup over the final three innings to earn the save, his third of the year, allowing just one hit without a walk while fanning five. Waney (3-0) picked up the win after seven innings of work during which he surrendered four hits, one earned and one unearned run with three walks and three strikeouts.
Kramer (3-3) suffered the loss for Dickinson pitching six and a third innings allowing four runs, three unearned and one earned, off of five Haverford hits. Kramer walked three and struck out 10.
In Game 2, the Fords were the team to jump on the board first as Will Bannard's lead-off walk turned into the first of two runs in the top of the first. Miranda followed Bannard by getting plunked by Red Devils starter Harley Moore and both came in to score on Alex Hudak's two-RBI single.
Dickinson battled back against Haverford's Brett Cohen with a run in the bottom of the frame, and then the tying run in the bottom of the second. A pair of runs in the top of the third and then two more in the top of the fourth pushed Haverford ahead with a lead it wouldn't relinquish, though the pesky Red Devils battled until the end.
Hudak collected three RBIs in the Game 2 victory with a 4-for-5 outing at the plate. Fox added another RBI later in the nightcap to finish with two and both Bannard and Miranda scored three runs each in the 11-8 win.
Cohen lasted 3.2 innings for the Fords surrendering five runs, one was unearned, before handing the ball off to Max Gerard in the fourth. Gerard (4-0) pitched 3.1 innings without allowing a run against only four hits to earn the win for Haverford. Kevin Goff came on in relief of Gerard to begin the eighth and earned the save (3) after allowing only one run off three Dickinson hits.
Haverford hits the road for its next game, a Centennial contest against host Muhlenberg College on Tuesday. Immaculata University hosts the Fords on Wednesday for a non-conference game before Muhlenberg travels to Kannerstein Field at Haverford on Friday to complete the split-date doubleheader.