MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.–The Swarthmore College baseball team (5-0) continued its winning ways in the opening games of spring break with a sweep of Manhattanville College on Sunday, March 6. Swarthmore cruised to an 11-1 win in the first game and held on for an 8-7 victory in game two.
The Garnet jumped out to an early lead to start the day as
Wesley Fishburn led off with a double to left field, one of his four hits on the afternoon.
Nico Aldaco reached on a bunt and a deep ball by
Ryan Burnett brought in the first run.
Joseph Jackson put two more on the board with a bases-clearing double, giving Swarthmore a 3-0 lead it would not relinquish.
In the third, the Garnet piled on five more runs with six hits in the frame. With one out, they loaded the bases with Burnett, Jackson and
David Wolfson.
Roy Walker's single drove in Burnett before
Jaron Shrock's scored Jackson. Levitt and Fishburn also collected base hits to complete the scoring. Swarthmore scored twice more in the fifth and once more in the sixth for its fourth victory of the campaign.
Senior
Nate Booth improved to 2-0 with one earned run and four strikeouts in six innings on the mound.
The runs continued in game two as the Garnet scored four in the first two frames and Manhattanville answered with two of its own. In the fifth, Fishburn hit a two-RBI triple with two outs to bring in
Charles Levitt and
Aidan Greer and put Swarthmore ahead 6-2. The Valiants, however remained within striking distance and mounted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh to push the game into extra innings. With two outs and the bases loaded, pitcher
Aidan Miller and Fishburn combined to pickoff the runner at second and escape the jam.
Burnett started strong in the eighth as Burnett walked and stole second, reaching scoring position with no outs.
Justin Pontrella's single up the middle brought him to third and Wolfson's sac fly to left field brought in the eventual game-winner. Freshman
Charles Groppe picked up the first win of his collegiate career by holding on to the lead in the bottom of the frame.
Swarthmore looks to improve to 6-0 against Mt. Aloysius on Monday, March 7 at 10:00 a.m.
