MOOSIC, Pa. --- The No. 21 ranked and top seed Moravian College baseball team dropped a 3-1 decision to eight seed Haverford College in the opening round of the 2014 NCAA Division III Tournament Moosic Regional at PNC Field Wednesday.
The Greyhounds, who fall to 32-11, will play host and fifth seed Misericordia University in the first elimination game of the tournament on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Haverford moves on to play fourth seed Baldwin-Wallace College at 4:30 p.m.
The Fords struck first with a run in the top of the first inning when center fielder Nick Miranda led off with a single and scored on an RBI ground out by catcher Nick Ott.
The Greyhounds put a pair of runners on base with two outs in the home half of the first inning when junior right fielder Matt Hanson walked and sophomore first baseman Charles Savite connected on a single. However, Moravian would strand the runners there.
The Hounds tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning. Freshman left fielder Anthony Gaetaniello hit an infield single and moved to second on bunt by junior shortstop Colin Case. After a wild pitch put Gaetaniello on third base, Hanson ripped an RBI single through the left side of the infield to bring Gaetaniello across the plate.
Moravian threatened again in the bottom of the fifth inning. Junior designated hitter Joey DiSarno drew a walk to lead off the inning and sophomore Cameron Leon came on to pinch run. Leon would make it to second base on a Haverford throwing error on a pickoff attempt by the catcher; however, he would be left there.
In the bottom of the seventh, senior center fielder Joseph Connell was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and he stole second base before being stranded there as Haverford starter Tommy Bergjans struck out the next three batters.
Haverford retook the lead in the top of the eighth inning. Second baseman Zach Taylor led off with a double and scored when right fielder George Hatamiya put down a bunt single and moved to second on a throwing error. Hatamiya eventually scored on an RBI single from shortstop William Bannard.
Gaetaniello led off the eighth with a single for the Greyhounds but was erased on a double play.
The Fords had an 8-4 edge in hits with Taylor going 2-for-3 and Casey Fox going 2-for-4. Gaetaniello led the Greyhounds at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance.
Bergjans tossed a complete game for Haverford with a run on four hits and two walks to go along with 13 strikeouts.
"Bergjans is a very good pitcher but we helped him out by swinging at some bad pitches," stated Head Coach Paul Engelhardt. "We told the guys to layoff the curveball out of the zone, and we struggled with our two-strike counts."
Senior Robert Solano suffered his first loss of the season on the mound, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out three batters in 7.1 innings. Senior Chris Soltys tossed the final 1.2 innings and allowed one hit.
"Rob pitched a great game as he gave a chance to control and win the game," Engelhardt said. "He did what he had to do for use to scratch out two or three runs but we weren't able to do it. If we can get a couple of wins and still be alive on Friday or Saturday, I know Rob is going to be on the mound."
Moravian looks to win its first NCAA Tournament game on Thursday versus Misericordia.
"We need to do a lot better job offensively tomorrow," Engelhardt commented on Thursday's game.
