March 30, 2004

Box Score

CARLISLE, Pa. -- The top-ranked Johns Hopkins baseball team improved to 19-0 overall and 5-0 in the Centennial Conference with a 10-3 victory at Dickinson Tuesday afternoon. The Blue Jays' 19th consecutive victory is a school record, breaking the previous record of 18 straight wins set in 1989. Hopkins is also now 32-1 in its last 33 regular season games dating back to last season. Dickinson falls to 6-9-1, 3-1-1.

A two-run home rune by Greg Neese in the bottom of the first gave Dickinson a 2-1 lead after one inning. Junior Mike Spiciarich opened the game with a triple and Mike Durgala's two-out double plated him to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead that Neese quickly erased in the bottom of the inning.

Dickinson pushed the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third when Tre Dwindle singled and came around to score on an error. However, the Red Devils, who had managed six hits through three innings, would collect just three more over the final six and the Blue Jays slowly began to put the game away.

A Brian Morley RBI-single in the top of the fifth plated sophomore Corey Gleason, who had led off the inning with a single. The Blue Jays took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth as senior Doug Hitchner's two-run home run highlighted a three-run inning that gave the Blue Jays a 5-3 lead.

Matt Eonta was the hard-luck pitcher for the Devils in the bottom of the sixth, when the defense fell apart for Dickinson. The first three Hopkins batters all reached base on errors and RBI singles by Gleason and Eric Nigro helped account for a four-run outburst that pushed the lead to 9-3. A Paul Winterling home run in the bottom of the eighth closed the scoring as the Blue Jays won their second straight game since taking over the top spot in the nation.

Gleason led the way for the Blue Jays as he was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. No other Hopkins player collected more than one hit, although eight of the nine players in the starting lineup had a hit. Durgala and Hitchner both had two RBIs for the Blue Jays as well.

Jason Thayer picked up the win on the mound for the Blue Jays as he scattered eight hits in five innings and struck out five without walking anyone. Jeremy Brown and Jason Hochfelder combined to throw four innings of one-hit relief.

Bryan MacPhail took the loss for Dickinson as he allowed five runs (four earned) and seven hits in 5.2 innings of work. He struck out four and walked two. Dwindell was one of three Dickinson players with two hits and he scored two of the Devils' three runs in the game.

Johns Hopkins and Dickinson will meet again on Friday (April 2) at 3:00 pm at Johns Hopkins.