May 15, 2003

Box Score

Boyertown, PA - Seven Blue Jays recorded two hits apiece and senior pitcher Jeremy Brown (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) allowed just two runs in seven innings as Johns Hopkins cruised to a 14-4 win over Alvernia on the first day of the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Baseball Tournament Thursday afternoon at Bear Stadium.

Hopkins, the No. 2 seed in the regional, improved to 33-5 and will face the winner of Thursday night's DeSales-Lakeland game Friday at 7 p.m. The fifth-seeded Crusaders fell to 27-10 with the loss and will face No. 6 seed Otterbein Friday.

The Blue Jays went ahead in the bottom of the third inning, as sophomore second baseman Mike Spiciarich (Syosset, NY/Chaminade) hit a three-run home run after junior catcher Doug Hitchner (Haverford, PA/Episcopal Academy) and senior designated hitter Jay Cieri (Pine Brook, NJ/Montville) each drew a walk to open the frame.

Alvernia scored a single run off of Brown in the top of the fifth, but Hopkins answered with two in the bottom of the frame. Hitchner opened the inning with a double to left center field and scored on an RBI single by Cieri. After Spiciarich singled, Cieri was thrown out at third on a double steal attempt, but sophomore first baseman Mike Durgala (Annandale, VA/Thomas Jefferson) singled home Spiciarich to give the Blue Jays a 5-1 lead.

Hopkins then blew the game open by scoring seven runs in the sixth inning. Sophomore third baseman Paul Long (Oklahoma City, OK/Heritage Hall) bunted for a single to start the inning, and advanced to third after a stolen base and an error by Alvernia catcher Anthony Recker. After a walk to senior right fielder Joe Urban (Nanticoke, PA/Bishop Hoban), junior shortstop Tim Casale (West Hempstead, NY/Chaminade) singled to plate Long.

Hitchner then bunted for a single to load the bases, and after Cieri singled through the left side to score Urban, Spiciarich drew a bases loaded walk to make it an 8-1 game. Sophomore center fielder Paul Winterling (Glenelg, MD/McDonogh) then singled home Hitchner, and two outs later, Long stroked a three-run double to give Hopkins a commanding 12-1 advantage.

Alvernia got one back in the top of the seventh on a run-scoring double by Eric Bonds, but Winterling answered in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer. The Crusaders added single runs in the eighth and ninth to close the scoring.

Spiciarich finished 2-for-4 with three runs scored and four runs batted in, while Winterling went 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs. Brown picked up the win to improve to 8-2 on the season.

Eric Pettit had three hits for Alvernia, while Jeff Kiesel allowed seven runs in five innings to pick up the loss and fall to 5-3.

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