GETTYSBURG, Pa.–The Swarthmore College baseball team handily defeated the Gettysburg College Bullets, 10-1, to start the afternoon before falling by a 6-5 score in the 10th inning of the nightcap on Sunday, April 23.
The Garnet offense erupted for 17 hits in game one, led by three apiece from
AJ Liu,
Charles Levitt and
Cole Beeker. Liu crossed the plate three times while Beeker drove in a trio of runs and
Conor Elliott had two of each category to go with two hits.
Wesley Fishburn and
Matt Palmer also had a pair of hits in the game.
Noah Linhart allowed one unearned run and struck out nine in seven innings.
James Rutledge closed out the game with two perfect frames in relief.
In the first, Swarthmore loaded the bases with Liu, Levitt and Fishburn before Elliott drove in the first run with a sac fly to left. Three more runs came in the third as the top of the lineup came to the plate for the second time around. Liu led off with a single and reached third on Levitt's double. Fishburn plated a run and joined Levitt in scoring position by stealing second. A single by Beeker coupled with a Bullets' error brought two more runs in for a 4-0 advantage.
Another run in the fifth and a combined five runs in seventh and eighth provided the final margin for the contest as Swarthmore picked up its first road win of the season.
The hosts jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning in the nightcap and held Swarthmore off the board until the sixth. Liu doubled to start the rally and consecutive hit batters loaded the bases with no outs. Elliott plated a run as did
Max Grullon and Palmer as Swarthmore also capitalized on a fielding miscue to extend the inning. Pinch hitter
Jackson Roberts hit a two-RBI single to center for the fifth and final run of the frame.
The Bullets answered with two runs of the game, evening the score at five apiece. The teams traded zeroes and Gettysburg put the potential winning run aboard in the eighth after a fielding error by Grullon.
Sawyer Lake proceeded to strike out three consecutive batters to prevent the hosts from breaking the tie. Gettysburg finally broke through in the tenth when it loaded the bases with no outs and walked off with a two-out walk on a pinch hitter.
Swarthmore hosts Ursinus on Monday, April 24 at 3:30 p.m in a conference game rescheduled from Friday.