April 14, 2002

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Junior Jeremy Brown (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh School) tossed a shutout in game one and sophomore Doug Hitchner (Haverford, PA/Episcopal Academy) drove in three runs in the second game to lead the Johns Hopkins baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Centennial Conference foe Swarthmore this afternoon. The Blue Jays won the first game 3-0 and took the nightcap 6-4 to improve to 25-5 overall and 11-1 in the conference. Swarthmore fell to 2-17-1 overall and 2-9 in CC play.

Brown improved to 3-0 on the year and lowered his earned run average to 4.15 with his first career shutout in the opener. He allowed just one walk and three hits, while striking out eight batters. Brown is currently second on the team with a career-high 33 strikeouts and has walked just three batters in 30.1 innings this season.

The Blue Jays got on the board in the bottom of the first inning as senior Ben Taylor (Pawling, NY/Trinity-Pawling) drove in fellow senior Karl Sineath (West Chester, PA/West Chester Henderson) with a single. Sineath opened the inning with a single then stole his 16th base of the year. He now has 94 career steals and needs just two to become JHU's all-time leader. Sineath also needs just six runs to become the school's all-time leader with 164.

JHU added a run in the second as sophomore Carl Ippolito (Ewing, NJ/Pennington School) reached on a single and later scored on a wild pitch. Hopkins capped the scoring in the fourth when freshman Mike Durgala (Annandale, VA/Thomas Jefferson) singled, advanced to third on a double by Ippolito, and scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Craig Cetta (Randolph, NJ/Randolph).

Ippolito finished the game 2-for-3 with a run scored, and Taylor was 2-for-3 with a run batted in. Senior John Krivonak (Canfield, OH/Canfield) also added two hits in three trips to the plate for JHU. Jared Leiderman pitched a complete game and took the loss for Swarthmore. He allowed three runs on nine hits, while striking out four without a walk.

The Blue Jays rallied with five runs in the final two innings to take the second game 6-4. Hopkins struck first in the fourth inning as Krivonak drove in junior Joe Urban (Nanticoke, PA/Bishop Hoban), who had reached on his eighth double of the year, with a single. Swarthmore tied the score with a single run in the bottom of the inning and took a 4-1 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.

JHU came back to tie the score in the top of the sixth as Hitchner smacked a bases-loaded double, driving in Taylor, Cetta, and pitch runner Rob Morrison (Malibu, CA/Loyola). Hitchner now has 18 RBIs this season and is batting .419 with 18 hits in 43 at-bats. The Blue Jays struck again in the top of the seventh with two runs for the final 6-4 margin. Junior Jay Cieri (Pine Brook, NJ/Montville) singled and Ippolito followed with a walk. Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Taylor, and Cieri scored the eventual game-winner on a sacrifice fly by Durgala. Ippolito added an insurance run on a throwing error by the center fielder.

Sophomore Sven Stafford (Evanston, IL/Evanston) pitched the final 2.2 innings to improve to 2-0 on the year. He allowed one run on three hits and struck out one. Leiderman suffered his second loss of the day as he pitched a third of an inning in relief and allowed two runs on two hits.

Hopkins, which has won three straight games and 18 of its last 20, has its best record after 30 games since the 1998 team posted a 28-2 record at the 30-game mark. The Blue Jays have also reached the 25-win plateau for the 11th straight season. At this point last year, JHU had 22-8 record and an 11-3 record in Centennial play.

The Blue Jays return to action Tuesday as JHU hosts Centennial rival Gettysburg at 3:30 p.m.

Game 1 Line Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, R H E
Johns Hopkins (24-5, 10-1 Centennial) 1 1 0 1 0 0 0, 3 9 1
Swarthmore (2-16-1, 2-8 Centennial) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0, 0 3 0

Battery
Johns Hopkins - Brown and Prevas
Swarthmore - Leiderman and Corso

Extra-Base Hits
2B - Sineath (JHU), Ippolito (JHU)

Game 2 Line Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, R H E
Johns Hopkins (25-5, 11-1 Centennial) 0 0 0 1 0 3 2, 6 8 1
Swarthmore (2-17-1, 2-9 Centennial) 0 0 0 1 3 0 0, 4 6 1

Battery
Johns Hopkins - Berger, Stafford (5) and Hitchner
Swarthmore - Zvokel, Leiderman (6), Davis (7) and Corso

Extra-Base Hits
2B - Urban (JHU), Hitchner (JHU)
3B - King (SC)