Game One Box Score Game Two Box Score
HAVERFORD, Pa. – Senior Dave Olson (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) went 4-for-8 with four RBIs and a three-run homer while sophomore Mike Backus (Piscataway, N.J./Immaculata) drilled his second grand slam of the season and had a career-high six RBIs in the nightcap as the Gettysburg College baseball team split a Centennial Conference doubleheader at Haverford College Saturday afternoon.
The Bullets (13-13, 5-2 CC) took the first game, 5-3, while the Fords (15-7-1, 4-3 CC) captured the nightcap, 9-8.
Olson slammed his long ball, his second of the season, in the fourth inning of the opener to break a 1-1 tie in Game One.
The Bullets were on the board first when senior Matt Stillitano (Ewing, N.J./The Hun School of Princeton) smacked a solo homer, his second of the season, in the second inning. The Fords answered in the bottom of the inning when Charlie Carluccio knocked a solo shot, his first of season.
Gettysburg took the lead for good in the three-run fourth inning. Haverford got one run back in the fourth when Robbie Crabtree knocked in Carluccio.
The teams traded runs in the sixth inning. Drew Wilcox hit his second home run of the season for the Fords' third run.
Junior Will Kleva (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) fired a seven-hit complete game on the mound for the Bullets. Kleva (4-1) struck out five while allowing three runs, two earned. Olson finished 2-for-3 with four RBIs while Stillitano scored two runs.
Donny Poster (2-2) started the game for Haverford. He struck out three over five-plus innings. Jason Miller pitched two innings in relief. Dean Laganosky and Crabtree each had two hits.
In the nightcap, Haverford scored six runs in the third inning and held off a late surge by Gettysburg.
With the game tied 1-1, the Fords batted around plus one en route to their six-run third. The inning started with five straight hits. Chris Dooley led off with a double to right field. He scored on a Jeff Rickert single up the middle. With the bases loaded and one out, Wilcox hit a two-run single. Evan Tibbetts and Louis DeRosa followed with RBIs in the inning.
The Fords added single runs in the fourth and fifth to assume a 9-1 lead.
In the seventh, sophomore Kevin Langhauser (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) hit a two-run double before scoring on an RBI groundout by Backus to make it 9-4.
In the ninth, reliever Matt Tomich allowed three straight hits as the Bullets loaded the bases with no outs. Carluccio was then called in, and Backus launched a grand slam over the leftfield fence on the first pitch for his team-leading fifth homer of the season to cut the Fords lead to one. Backus' other slam came in a 5-4 win over Rockford in Gettysburg's season-opening doubleheader in Florida.
Carluccio allowed two more hits in the inning but got a flyout to end the game.
Stefen Pappius-Lefebvre (3-1) started the game, going seven innings. He struck out five while allowing four runs, three earned. Carluccio earned his sixth save of the season.
Sophomore Michael Sweeney (Bethesda, Md./St. Anselm's Abbey School) started the game for the Bullets. He lasted 2 1/3 innings, yielding six runs on seven hits while striking out three. He suffered his first loss of the season, dropping to 1-1. Sophomore John Antrim-Cashin pitched well over the rest of the game, limiting Haverford to three runs (two earned) on four hits and two walks. He tied a career-high with six strikeouts over 5 2/3 of work.
Gettysburg returns to Centennial Conference action on Sunday, when it hosts McDaniel College at 2 p.m. in a nine-inning makeup game.
