LANCASTER, Pa. – The Haverford College baseball team (15-16, 8-6 CC) dropped a Centennial Conference doubleheader to Franklin & Marshall (22-12, 9-5 CC) Saturday at Caplan Field, falling by a 22-4 final in the first game before dropping a pitcher's duel by a 3-1 final in the second. Sophomore Nathan Bass (2-2) took a tough-luck loss in the second contest as he twirled an impressive 6.2 innings of six-hit baseball, striking out five and allowing no earned runs.
Franklin & Marshall 22, Haverford 4
The Fords struck for three first-inning runs against Diplomats opener Don DiLoreto. Junior Will Karp opened the game with a double, and senior Ethan Lee-Tyson then reached on a bunt single. A Franklin & Marshall error allowed Karp to score, and with one out, junior Owen Plambeck knocked a single to center, plating a pair for a 3-0 Fords advantage.
The Diplomats grabbed two back in the bottom of the frame, and JJ Freeman gave the hosts a 4-3 lead with a home run in the second. Haverford promptly tied the contest in the fourth against Matt Devlin (3-2), as Karp walked and Lee-Tyson singled to begin the inning. After a double steal, junior Harrison Burns scored Karp on a fielder's choice to knot things at 4-4. Franklin & Marshall rallied for five runs in the bottom of the fourth, and eventually scored in each of its final five innings to pull away from Haverford.
Lee-Tyson had a three-hit game for the Fords. The senior also eclipsed the Haverford career record for most at-bats, passing Casey Fox '15 as the outfielder finishes the day with 556 total at-bats for Haverford.
Franklin & Marshall 3, Haverford 1
In game two, Haverford went up against a tough challenge in reigning Centennial Conference Pitcher of the Week Jonathan Cole (5-2). Haverford countered with their own weekly award winner in Bass, and the two locked horns in a duel early.
The Diplomats pushed across a pair of unearned runs with a Will Samuel double in the first, but the two teams traded scoreless frames from that point until the eighth inning. Senior Nick Perez singled and got into scoring position in the third, but Cole was able to strand the threat. Similarly, Bass worked around a one-out double in the bottom of the inning. The Fords put two in scoring position in the fourth inning, but Cole again was able to wiggle around the baserunners and out of trouble.
In the action-packed eighth, Perez reached on an error and moved to second on a Karp groundout. Lee-Tyson then continued a solid day with an RBI single to center to plate Haverford's first run of the contest. A DiLoreto homer gave the hosts some breathing room in the bottom of the inning, as the Diplomats grabbed a 3-1 lead heading into the final frame. First-year Zach Landry drilled a one-out double against new pitcher Danny Blugis, but Blugis was able to nail down the save.
Cole was credited with the win as he stymied Haverford in his eight innings, recording 14 strikeouts against two walks.
The Fords, in the thick of the Centennial Conference postseason chase, now return home to the friendly confines of Kannerstein Field for four of their five games next week. Haverford will host Washington College Tuesday (3:30 p.m.) before playing a non-conference home game with Eastern Wednesday (3:30 p.m.). A trip to Chestertown, Md. to complete the home-and-home series with Washington College comes on Friday (3:30 p.m.), and the Fords will then host the regular season home finale against McDaniel Saturday, with doubleheader action slated to begin at noon.