BALTIMORE - The Johns Hopkins baseball team won the Centennial Conference title and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament with a doubleheader split against visiting Muhlenberg today. Hopkins (27-10) fell 7-6 in game one, but came back for a 15-4 victory over the Mules (17-18) in the second game.
The Blue Jays earned their first CC title and NCAA berth since 1998 with a 13-5 CC mark, one game ahead of Gettysburg. This is the ninth season, and third in the last five, in which head coach Bob Babb has led the Blue Jays to the NCAAs. JHU's best finish came during the 1989 season when the team placed third at the College World Series.
In game one, the Blue Jays held a 3-1 advantage before the Mules scored a single run in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game. Muhlenberg then scored four runs in the top of the sixth and held on for the 7-6 victory. Senior J.R. Taylor (Gainesville, FL/Eastside) went 2-for-4 with three RBIs for Hopkins, while seniors Karl Sineath (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) and Adam Karson (Greenville, PA/Greenville) each scored two runs and stole two bases.
Junior Brett Gutterman (New York, NY/Collegiate) suffered the loss and fell to 4-3 on the season, while Tim Haberbusch picked up the victory for Muhlenberg.
JHU's bats got hot in the second game with 17 hits and 15 runs. After a scoreless first inning, the Blue Jays batted around and scored eight runs in the second before adding three more runs in the third inning to take an 11-0 lead. The Blue Jays would add four more runs in the sixth and cruised to a 15-4 win.
Senior Yani Rosenberg (Baltimore, MD/Gilman) improved to 8-1 with his eighth consecutive victory. He pitched five innings and struck out four batters to move into third-place on JHU's all-time strikeout list with 188 strikeouts. Rosenberg is also second all-time at Hopkins in career winning percentage (.863, 19-3).
J.R. Taylor led the Blue Jays in the second game going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs. He collected his 17th and 18th doubles on the day, which ties him for the most in a single season at Hopkins. Freshman catcher Doug Hitchner (Haverford, PA/Episcopal Academy) also had a solid game with three hits in three official at-bats.
Senior Mike Barnard (Pittsburgh, PA/Upper St. Clair) continued his power surge this season with a home run both games. He hit a two-run shot to right field in game one and a three-run bomb down the left field line in the second game to give Hopkins an 8-0 lead. Barnard now has 12 home runs on the year, which places him second all-time at JHU to John Christ (17) in home runs in a single season.
The Blue Jays will return to action on Wednesday, May 2 with an away game against defending National Champion Montclair State at 7:00 p.m.
Baseball Line Score - Game 1
123 456 7 R H EMuhlenberg 100 114 0 7 9 2Johns Hopkins 102 000 3 6 9 2BatteryMuhlenberg - Haberbusch and PachtingerJohns Hopkins - Gutterman and PrevasExtra Base Hits2B - J.R. Taylor (JHU), Prevas (JHU)HR - Barnard (JHU)
Baseball Line Score - Game 2
123 456 7 R H EMuhlenberg 000 111 1 4 5 3Johns Hopkins 083 040 - 15 17 3BatteryMuhlenberg - Luongo, O'Conner (2), Komeshok (3), Frein (5), Weinstein(6)and Pachtinger, Sadler (5)Johns Hopkins - Rosenberg, Berger (6), Stafford (7) and HitchnerExtra Base Hits2B - J.R. Taylor (JHU), B. Taylor (JHU), Kampf (JHU)3B - Sineath (JHU), Karson (JHU)HR - Barnard (JHU)
