March 26, 2004

Box Score

Gettysburg, PA - Blue Jay senior Brian Morley (Tappan, NY/Don Bosco Prep) went 4-for-5 with two home runs and two doubles to lead the Johns Hopkins baseball team to a 15-5 victory over Gettysburg Friday afternoon.

The sixth-ranked Blue Jays, who improved to 15-0 overall and 2-0 in the Centennial Conference, scored in the top of the first when senior Tim Casale (West Hempstead, NY/Chaminade) doubled and scored on a single by senior Craig Cetta (Randolph, NJ/Randolph).

However, the Bullets answered with two in the bottom of the inning off of Hopkins senior starter Russ Berger (Owings Mills, MD/Owings Mills). Brian Pernice led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Ron Lettieri, and both runners scored when Brendan McDonald singled up the middle.

Casale led off the third with a double and scored on a single by junior Mike Durgala (Annandale, VA/Thomas Jefferson) to tie the game, and the Blue Jays took the lead for good with two runs in the fourth. Senior Carl Ippolito (Ewing, NJ/Pennington School) led off with a triple and scored on Morley's second double of the game. Morley then went to third on a fly out by senior Bryan Eberle (Frederick, MD/Urbana) and scored on a bunt single by senior Rob Morrison (Malibu, CA/Loyola).

Durgala started the fifth with a single, and junior Paul Winterling (Glenelg, MD/McDonogh) followed with a two-run home run to left center, his third round-tripper of the season. One out later Ippolito singled to knock Gettysburg starter Brian Spicer out of the game, and Morley greeted reliever Tobin Whitman with a two-run homer to left center to put Hopkins up 8-2.

The Bullets, who fell to 7-8-1 overall and 0-2 in league play, responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning when Pernice doubled home Chase Straub and scored on a single by McDonald to cut the Blue Jay lead to 8-4.

Hopkins, which scored in every inning but the second, answered in the sixth as Durgala doubled to open the frame and, following a single by Winterling, scored on a sacrifice fly by junior Mike Spiciarich (Syosset, NY/Chaminade). Gettysburg got one back in the bottom of the inning, but Hopkins added a run in the seventh on a single by Casale and an RBI double by Cetta to make it a 10-5 game.

With one out in the eighth Morley hit his second homer of the game, and after three Bullet errors led to another Hopkins run, sophomore Gary Rosenberg (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) singled down the right field line to plate Casale and Morrison. The Blue Jays tacked on a final run in the ninth when junior Eric Nigro (Randolph, NJ/Taft Prep) homered to left field, his second blast of the year.

Morley drove in four runs and scored three times for Hopkins, while Casale finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and four runs scored. Durgala was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a run batted in, while Morrison, Cetta, Winterling and Ippolito each recorded two hits.

Berger picked up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season after allowing five runs, four earned, on nine hits in six innings pitched. Junior Ryan McConnell (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor) gave up one hit and struck out a pair in two scoreless innings, while sophomore Andrew Bail (Chicago, IL/Latin School) struck out one in a scoreless ninth.

Spicer allowed seven runs in 11 hits in 4.1 innings pitched for Gettysburg and fell to 1-1 on the season.

The Blue Jays host Ursinus Saturday at 12 noon in a conference doubleheader.

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