Larkin, Spring-Ford walk off against Haverford in extras

ROYERSFORD >> When visiting Haverford scored six runs in the top of the third inning Monday afternoon, things looked mighty bleak for host Spring-Ford in the opening round of the District 1-AAAA baseball playoffs at Ram Stadium.

Some rain delay theatre between Haverford and Spring-Ford pic.twitter.com/wZewjfG5SB

— Sam Stewart (@Samuel_Stewart7) May 23, 2016

But to their credit, the host Rams remained resilient and pecked away at the lead. Eventually, Spring-Ford tied the game with one run in the bottom of the seventh inning and then won the contest, 7-6, with two outs in the last of the eighth inning on a bases-loaded single to left field by Conor Larkin, a junior pitcher/first baseman who is in his first season back on the field after undergoing Tommy John surgery in July 2014.

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Spring-Ford, the 10th seed, advanced to the second round of the tournament. The Rams will face the winner of the Central Bucks South/Souderton contest, which was suspended due to rain Monday and will be completed Tuesday. With the victory, the Rams improved their record to 17-5 overall for the 2016 season.

The No. 23 seed Fords, from the Central League, closed out the campaign at 13-8 overall after winning five consecutive games prior to Monday’s game, which was delayed by heavy rain in the top of the seventh inning. The game resumed after a 46-minute waiting period.

“It was a great game,” said Larkin, who has given a verbal commitment to Division I Penn State University, where he is expected to be back on the pitching mound. “We fight back hard. Our philosophy is to fight until the end. It was good to get the win and move on to the next one.”

Spring-Ford began its comeback with two runs in the fourth inning on a two-run double by Nick Bauer and then made it 6-3 on Quinn McKenna’s solo home run over the left field fence to begin a three-run rally in the sixth inning. Spring-Ford tied the game at 6 with a run in the seventh on another RBI double by Bauer.

In the eighth inning, Jake Cieszkowski led off with a double to right-center field and stole third base. Leadoff man Brian Varani was intentionally walked. Then, after a pair of strikeouts, McKenna was also intentionally walked to load the bases. Larkin supplied the game-winning hit on a 2-1 pitch to end the ballgame.

Spring-Ford finished with 17 hits off Haverford pitchers Cole Humes, who hurled the first six innings, and reliever Nicholas DeFeo. Haverford totaled 10 hits against four Spring-Ford pitchers, which included starter Jake Zoller and relievers Pat McMahon, Thomas Hughes and Ryne Moore. 

“They hit the ball,” said Haverford coach Paul Bogosian. “They had 17 hits and we had 10 hits. Defensively, we couldn’t have played any better defense. But hats off to them. They won the game; we didn’t lose the game. We got off to the 6-0 lead, but one through nine they can hit. You’ve got to give them credit.”

Haverford executed three neat double plays on defense while Spring-Ford also turned one twin-killing, crucially ending the Fords’ threat in the seventh.

The Rams’ relief pitchers shut the door after Zoller left the game after a 2 1/3-inning stint. McMahon took over for 3 2/3 innings before Hughes and Moore each pitched an inning.

“We live to play another day,” said Spring-Ford coach Bruce Brobst. “We hit the ball well. When you get down 6-0, it is very hard to come back. But we kept fighting so give all the guys credit.”

Brobst spoke about his bullpen’s splendid showing.

“Those guys haven’t had a lot of work,” said Brobst. “Our starting pitching has been so good, but they are very good pitchers. Every time they have been called in, they did an outstanding job. They came in and shut the door.”

Brobst said the only other game this year in which the Rams had such an offensive attack was against Owen J. Roberts in a Pioneer Athletic Conference game. He still termed that game the Rams’ best hitting game of the year.

“We got up 6-0, but you can’t stop there,” said Bogosian. “They kept chipping away.”

He credited Spring-Ford’s pitchers for closing the door. At the same time, Bogosian said he thought it was the first time this year the Fords’ pitchers have allowed 17 hits in any one outing.

McKenna finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and one run batted in. Larkin was 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI. Bauer was 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI. Owen Gulati had two hits, one of them a double, and scored once. Cieszkowski had two hits, with one double and one run. Sam Barletta also picked up two hits.

For Haverford, Nick Cerelli and Kenny Kissinger each had two hits. Dylan Resnick ripped a two-run double to put the Fords on the board first in the third inning. Denis Spaventa and Drew Fowler also drove in runs.