FT. MYERS, Fla. – The Haverford College baseball team breezed past the Anna Maria Amcats at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic on Tuesday evening, prevailing by a final score of 12-1. The Fords improve to 3-2 on the young season while Anna Maria falls to 0-5 in defeat. The matchup was the first meeting between the two programs. Ben Furlong went 4-5 with six RBI on the day while Yannick Villanueva added three hits. 

Playing in its first nine inning contest of the season, Haverford gave the ball to the trio of Michael Schwarze, Austin Castellanos and Ben Verducci, who each tossed three innings on the mound for the Fords in the win. Verducci, the usual starter at first base for Haverford, was making his first career pitching appearance.  

Furlong and Ethan Lee-Tyson homered for Haverford as the bats came alive for a second straight contest. Haverford scored six runs in the first inning as Furlong delivered a grand slam for a 4-0 lead and Luke Wallis reached on a fielding error, bringing Jared Turner and Owen Plambeck home for a 6-0 advantage. 

Lee-Tyson homered on a solo shot in the second frame before Anna Maria scored its lone run in the bottom of the second off of Schwarze.

Furlong punched a single to right field in the third for a 10-1 lead and Plambeck singled in the fourth for an 11-1 advantage. Nick Perez walked with the bases loaded for the final run of the contest as Haverford was able to benefit from some solid relief to keep the Amcats at bay for the final five frames. 

Castellanos struck out three in relief while Verducci had a pair of punchouts in his mound debut.

Matthew Leahey was the lone Anna Maria batter with multiple hits, as he tallied two singles. Edel Abad tossed three scoreless frames for the Amcats.

The Fords will return to action on Thursday, March 9, taking on Saint John's (Minn.), a team receiving votes in the latest D3Baseball.com /NCBWA Top 25 poll. The Johnnies (6-3) will face off with Haverford at 9:00 am on Thursday at Terry Park, the former spring training home of four major league teams, most recently the Kansas City Royals.