March 8, 2002

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins baseball team received contributions from a number of players to defeat Johnson & Wales University, 8-3, this afternoon in non-conference action. The Blue Jays improve to 3-0 with the win, while Johnson & Wales falls to 2-4. JHU is off to a 3-0 start for the second straight season.

Hopkins opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as sophomore Tim Casale (West Hempstead, NY/Chaminade) lead off with a single and freshman Eric Nigro (Randolph, NJ/Taft Prep) drove him in with a double to the gap. Senior Mike DePalma (Norwalk, CT/Norwalk) brought home Nigro with a single up the middle. The Wildcats scored a single run in the second before sophomore Mike Stankus (Wolcott, CT/Wolcott) gave JHU a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second with his first career home run, a mammoth solo shot to left-center.

Johnson & Wales tied the score at 3-3 in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly and an error. Hopkins jumped back into the lead an inning later as sophomore Doug Hitchner (Haverford, PA/Episcopal Academy) smacked his first career home run to left to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 lead they would not relinquish. JHU added single runs in the sixth and seventh, and two runs in the eighth for the final 8-3 margin.

Casale went 2-for-4 on the day with two runs scored, while Nigro was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Senior Yani Rosenberg (Baltimore, MD/Gilman) picked up his first win of the year and improved to 20-3 in his career as he struck out three in two scoreless innings of relief. Five Blue Jay pitchers combined to strikeout 14 Wildcat batters and allow just two earned runs on six hits. Chris Husenica allowed five runs on eight hits in five innings and took the loss for Johnson & Wales.

The Blue Jays return to action tomorrow as JHU hosts 30th-ranked William Paterson University at 1:30 p.m.

Baseball Line Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Johnson & Wales (2-4) 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 5
Johns Hopkins (3-0) 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 - 8 11 5

Battery
Johnson & Wales - Husenica, Whitten (6) and Hirsch
Johns Hopkins - Lynch, Rosenberg (4), Setty (6), Overstreet (8), Stafford (9) and Hitchner, Prevas (6)

Extra Base Hits
2b - Nigro (JHU) 2.
HR - Hitchner (JHU), Stankus (JHU).