CHESTERTOWN, Md. - In a wild slugfest at Athey Park on the Washington College campus, the Haverford College baseball team (11-11, 2-1 CC) registered a 17-10 Centennial Conference victory over the host Shoremen (14-10, 0-3 CC) on Tuesday afternoon. The Fords tallied their most runs in a single contest so far this season (17), eclipsing the 16 scored in non-conference action against Eastern at home last Wednesday.
The Shoremen struck first, with two runs in the first against Haverford starter Luke Bessette, ahead of a big rally in the third inning. The blow in that frame came off the bat of Noah Iseman as he rocketed a grand slam to put the Shoremen up 6-0 in the early goings. Undaunted, Haverford chipped back against the Washington College bullpen, tagging Ethan Osgood and Alex Martin for four runs each to take the lead.
Zach Crampton homered in the fourth to set the tone for the comeback, and three consecutive singles to begin the fifth came ahead of two runs scoring on a fielder's choice and a passed ball. Daniel Rosman then singled to reload the bases, and Harry Genth punched a single through the left side of the infeld to trim the Washington advantage to just one at 6-5.
The floodgates opened in the sixth as Rosman came through in a key spot yet again, doubling into the left field gap to plate Kendrick Curry II and Zach Crampton as Haverford went ahead 9-6. The Fords added two more on four consecutive walks and a wild pitch in the seventh, and plated a run on a double from Luke Smith in the eighth. In the ninth, an RBI single from Runfola came ahead of lasered run-scoring doubles from Genth and Smith as the lead reached seven at 17-10.
Smith delivered a three-hit contest while Crampton, Becker, Genth, and Rosman all had multi-hit games as the lineup cranked out 13 in total. Genth had a game-best 4 RBI, matching Iseman with that effort.
The contest featured 22 walks and six hit batters. After Bessette exited after four innings of work, August Williams (3-1) was credited with the win with seven strikeouts in his 3.1 innings on the mound. Riley Grohowski worked a solid ninth with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief for his second career save.
Haverford has won five of its last six contests. The Fords improve to 53-42 all-time against Washington College. Haverford has tallied double-digit scoring outputs in each of its last three victories over WAC.
Baseball now concludes the home-and-home series with the Shoremen on Friday at Kannerstein Field. Haverford will take on Washington College at approximately 3:30 p.m. as part of Division III Week Celebrations taking place on campus.