PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - No. 5-ranked Swarthmore College Baseball continued its spring break trip on Sunday with another split, losing to Kean University 8-7 in 12 innings and following that up with an 11-5 win over Marietta College.
Senior Charlie Levitt crushed his 14th career home run in Game 1, breaking Swarthmore's all-time record of 13 that was held by Michael Cameron '12. The 6-foot, 175-pound left fielder hit one as a freshman, two as a sophomore and nine as a junior. He already has two this season as he launched one in the team's 27-8 victory over the University of Scranton on Saturday.
GAME ONE: Kean 8, Swarthmore 7 (12 innings)
The Garnet and Cougars went back and forth as Kean scored one run in each of the first three innings.
A three-run bottom of the third gave Swarthmore a 4-3 advantage. Levitt's homer was responsible for one run while sophomore
Coleson Hebble and junior
Holden Bridge also drove in one apiece with singles. However, Kean bounced back with four runs of its own in the following inning.
Neither team scored over the next six innings, and the fight Swarthmore showed in 2018 was evident again as it plated three in the bottom of the ninth to force it to extras. Sophomore
Michael Sepe and junior
Jared Gillen each had an RBI while freshman
Austin Burgess scored on a balk.
Kean scored the game-winning run in the top of the 12th inning on a wild pitch.
Gillen and Hebble each had four hits in the defeat.
Senior
Zach Gonzalez, freshman
Zach Camp and freshman
Oliver Hicks all pitched two scoreless innings in relief to keep Swarthmore alive.
GAME TWO: Swarthmore 11, Marietta 5
Swarthmore jumped out to an early 7-0 lead against the Pioneers thanks in large part to a two-run home run by junior
Cole Beeker that sparked a five-run third inning.
Beeker reached base in five of his six plate appearances, and senior
Conor Elliott went 4-for-5.
The Garnet took their foot off the gas until putting up a four spot in the eighth. Levitt, Beeker, Hebble and Sepe had the RBIs.
Junior starting pitcher
Ryan Warm picked up the win with six strikeouts over six frames while sophomore
Owen Webb earned his first-career save by throwing three innings of one-hit baseball.
Swarthmore is slated to face No. 1-ranked Wooster College on Monday at 6 p.m. in Port Charlotte. The last time these two nationally-ranked teams met was in the 2018 Division III World Series, and the Garnet won 10-5.
