APPLETON, Wis.--Swarthmore College Baseball concluded its improbable 2018 season on Sunday with a 3-2 loss in 13 innings against No. 6 Texas Lutheran University in the Division III Baseball Championship.
The Garnet ended the season with a program-record 38 wins to accompany 11 losses. They became the first Swarthmore team ever to win a Centennial Conference title, a regional title and make an appearance in the DIII World Series. Their 44 home runs this season were also a program best.
Swarthmore jumped out to a lead by scoring one in the bottom of the first inning on a double by sophomore Cole Beeker that drove in junior Charles Levitt.
Sophomore pitcher Ryan Warm kept the Garnet ahead until the fourth inning, during which he let up an RBI single. He let up another run in the seventh and handed the ball to sophomore Jack Corkery with his team trailing 2-1.
Corkery, the team's closer, hadn't pitched more than 2.2 innings in a game all season. Against the Bulldogs, he pitched six innings, striking out five while allowing just four hits and one earned run. He finishes the season with a 2.01 ERA in 31.1 innings pitched.
Down 2-1, junior Conor Elliott kept the game alive with an RBI single that trickled past the second baseman and just barely onto the outfield grass.
With runners on first and third, Texas Lutheran scored the game-winning run in the top of the 13th on a single to left field.
Junior Jackson Roberts went 3-for-4. He completed the season with a Swarthmore-record 10 home runs and a team-high .399 batting average and .690 slugging percentage.
Beeker went 3-for-6 in the final game. He finished second on the team with a .361 batting average and tied for sixth in the country with a program-record 65 RBIs.
This year's Swarthmore team featured three seniors: second baseman Matt Palmer and relief pitchers Jackson Ramey and Max Kassan.