Levitt, Beeker help Swarthmore extend NCAAs run

Swarthmore did it again. The Garnet staged its second late-inning rally in three games to move to within one win of a berth in the NCAA Division III baseball world series.

Charles Levitt ripped an RBI triple to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning and Cole Beeker followed with a two-run single down the right-field line to power the Garnet to a 9-6 triumph over Southern Maine in the winners bracket final of the Auburn, N.Y. Regional Saturday night.

The victory extends Swarthmore winning streak to 13 games and sends the Garnet (36-9) into the championship round against either Southern Maine, host Cortland or Baldwin-Wallace.

Cortland plays Baldwin-Wallace at noon on Sunday. The winner faces Southern Maine at 3:30. If the Southern Maine wins that, it will play Swarthmore at 7:30 Sunday night. If either Cortland or Baldwin-Wallace comes through the losers bracket, the championship game will be moved to Monday. The if necessary game is slated for Monday.

Levitt broke a 6-6 tie with his RBI triple. Beeker’s bit gave pitcher Jack Corkery a three-run lead and that was enough for him to pick up his program-record 12th win of the season with 2.2 innings of hitless relief.

Levitt, Beeker and Jared Gillen collected two hits and two RBIs each to pace an eight-hit attack. Beeker, A.J. Liu and Matt Palmer scored two runs apiece. The top four hitters — Liu, Beeker, Levitt and Jackson Roberts — were a combined 8-for-16 with five RBIs and five runs scored.