BALTIMORE, Md. - The Haverford College baseball team (24-15) advanced to the Centennial Conference Championship for the first time since the 2019 season after a exhilarating and majestic day of baseball that will not soon be forgotten in the lore of the Haverford program or the Centennial Conference writ large. The Fords triumphed over McDaniel, 6-5 and then put up a season-high in runs against Swarthmore, prevailing 24-10, to lock in a spot in Sunday's title game.
When the dust was settled on a memorable day of postseason baseball, Haverford Head Coach Dave Beccaria notched his 500th career victory, becoming just the fourth coach in Centennial Conference history to reach that milestone, and doing so on the campus of his alma mater.
Haverford played a 9 a.m. contest, an early morning start that was actually moved up an hour due to impending weather later in the day, delivering a walk-off win over a talented McDaniel squad.
From that point, it was a waiting game for the Fords as the team had to wait out a tightly played Johns Hopkins-Swarthmore contest that followed, in addition to a pair of lengthy rain delays that impacted the second game with the Garnet.
Haverford's offense exploded after the first delay that pushed back first pitch, with an 11-run first frame against Swarthmore pitching helping to set the tone.
Haverford 6, McDaniel 5
In the first matchup of the day against the Green Terror, Haverford's Jack Wallis was a standout, delivering the game-winning hit as part of a four-hit, three RBI day. Jackson Sgro launched a two-run homer in the third inning and tied the score at 5-5 in the eighth with an RBI single, setting the stage for the Wallis dramatics as part of a three-RBI game.
Sam Cohen was dominant in his six innings on the mound, as he logged six innings, striking out eight and surrendering just four hits. Drew Doyle added three innings to pick up his fourth win of the season.
In the top of the third, Sean Daly reached on a one-out infield single before Ben Davis connected on a two-run homer to give the Green Terror an early 2-0 lead, breaking the McDaniel program home run record in the process. Undaunted, Cohen limited the damage with back-to-back strikeouts to send the Fords back to the bats.
Haverford went back to work offensively, with Jack Wallis reaching on a bloop single ahead of Jackson Sgro launching a two-run homer down the left field line to tie the score at 2-2.
With one down, Harry Genth singled and came in to score on yet another Wallis single, giving the Fords the 3-2 lead. McDaniel tied the score in the seventh on a Henry Novario sacrifice fly. Doyle ran into a spot of trouble in the eighth, as Ben Davis walked and a throwing error allowed Joey Hubinger to reach. A sacrifice bunt moved the pair into scoring position, and DJ Stolba then singled up the middle to plate a pair.
Undaunted, Haverford roared back with a pair of runs. Chuck Norton walked ahead of another walk to pinch hitter Kendrick Curry II. After a sacrifice bunt from Prusek, Genth was intentionally walked to load the bases. Wallis again came through with an RBI single, and Sgro followed with another liner up the middle that plated pinch-runner Matt Dahl to tie the score at 5-5.
After Doyle worked around a two-RBI double to provide a shutdown inning for the Fords, Haverford rallied with one out. Norton singled up the middle, Dahl laced a lineout but an errant throw from the Green Terror allowed Norton to take second. Prusek walked, and Genth was then intentionally walked to again set the stage for Wallis. The senior delivered in the clutch to give the Fords a 6-5 lead, setting off a raucous celebration as the Fords lived to advance to the late afternoon matchup against the Garnet.
Treese also had a multi-hit game for the Fords, who banged out 11 hits in the triumph.
Haverford 24, Swarthmore 10
In the second elimination game of the day, Haverford was locked in an enticing rematch against Swarthmore. The Fords came out absolutely blazing against Swarthmore hurler Jeremy Jensen exploding for 11 runs in the first inning—the second-highest single-inning total in Centennial Conference tournament history. Genth drew a walk and swiped second base ahead of Sgro's second home run of the day, a two-run blast that gave Haverford an early 2-0 lead.
Anthony Runfola followed with a solo shot of his own, going back-to-back and extending the advantage to 3-0. After Treese walked, the Fords rattled off six straight singles to keep the pressure on. Runfola then stepped up once again and crushed his second homer of the inning, a three-run bomb that stunned the Garnet and put Haverford firmly in control, 11-0.
The Fords kept rolling in the second. Flieder was hit by a pitch, Rosman singled, and Prusek walked to load the bases. Genth added a sacrifice fly to make it 12-0, and Wallis beat out an infield single to bring in Rosman for a 13-0 lead.
Swarthmore responded with three runs in the bottom of the third, but Runfola made history in the fourth with his third home run in as many at-bats. The historic blast tied both Haverford and Centennial Conference single-game records and made Runfola the first player in CC tournament history to hit three home runs in a single game.
After a scoreless bottom of the third from Grohowski, the skies opened up as the game entered a lengthy and sustained delay with lightning in the area. After a 1:47 minute rain delay, the game resumed at 9:13 p.m. local time.
Haverford tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth inning. Sgro walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Treese. Flieder walked and Norton singled to cash in Sgro. A perfectly executed delayed steal plated another run as Flieder scampered to score with a steal of home, and Rosman then singled to plate Norton, getting thrown out at second to end the inning.
Swarthmore went back to the bats, adding a three spot right back against the Haverford ledger, and spelling the end of Grohowski's night. Wyatt Mattison came in to relief his classmate, and induced a pair of flyouts to end the threat.
Haverford added two more in the sixth, as Wallis was hit by a pitch ahead of a walk to Sgro, a hit by pitch with Runfola at the dish, and back-to-back bases loaded walks to Treese and Flieder.
A bases-loaded single by Sgro in the seventh was Haverford's 20th run of the contest. Haverford's offense banged out its 21st run in the eighth, as Daniel Rosman tallied his third RBI of the contest on a sacrifice bunt.
Genth lifted a ninth-inning homer, his Division III-leading in 22nd of the season and 41st of his career, for Haverford's 22nd run of the contest before Treese poked a single for the 23rd run of the game and Norton did the same for the 24th.
Wallis, Sgro, Runfola, Norton, Genth, and Rosman each tallied multi-hit days, with Sgro's four-run effort pacing seven different Fords who scored multiple runs. Runfola's historic day included five RBI, while Sgro (3), Wallis (3), Rosman (3), Genth (3), Norton (2) and Treese (2) added multiple RBI.
First pitch of the contest with No. 1 Johns Hopkins is slated for 2 p.m. at Babb Field in Baltimore. The Fords will need a pair of wins over the Blue Jays, with a potential "Game 8" slated for 30 minutes after the last out of the first matchup if the Fords are able to prevail.
