CHICHESTER, Pa.–Playing on a blustery Spring day at the Maplezone Sports Institute, the Swarthmore College baseball team dropped a pair of games to the Elizabethtown Blue Jays on Sunday, Feb. 26.

The Garnet fell 5-2 in the first game before conceding a 9-4 result in the second contest of the day.

Swarthmore's offense struggled in the early going of game one as the Blue Jays mounted a 5-0 lead through the first sixth innings. In the bottom of the frame, AJ Liu led off with a walk and reached scoring position after stealing second. Two batters later, a triple from pinch hitter Jackson Roberts brought in Liu and gave the Garnet their first run of the game.

Classmate Charles Levitt followed up with an RBI single up the middle and Cole Beeker gave the Garnet runners on the corners and the tying run at the plate. Unfortunately, Elizabethtown escaped the inning without surrendering further runs and went on to win the game by a 5-2 margin.

Sophomore starter Noah Linhart was charged with the loss, conceding two earned runs in five innings on the mound.

Levitt started game two with a double and scored on Beeker's sac fly to left field. Swarthmore added to its lead, starting off with yet another double, this time by Conor Elliott to center field. Catcher Jaron Shrock eventually plated him for a 2-0 Swarthmore advantage.

The Blue Jays answered with four runs on five hits in the bottom of the frame before Swarthmore got a run back in the fourth as Roberts and Elliott hit consecutive doubles to left field.

Elizabethtown did three runs worth of damage in the fourth and threatened to add to their total with the bases loaded and one out, but relief pitcher Griffin Kammerer escaped the jam by rolling a 643 double play. In the sixth, Beeker drove in Levitt to make it a two-run game before three runs in the bottom of the frame close the door on the Garnet comeback.

Swarthmore resumes competition in a week when it travels to Fort Myers to face Rivier in the Gene Cusic Classic on Sunday, March 5.