May 1, 2004

Box Score

Baltimore, MD - The top-ranked Johns Hopkins baseball team pounded out 21 hits en route to an 18-15 win over Franklin & Marshall Saturday afternoon in the Centennial Conference Tournament.

The Blue Jays and Diplomats will play again Sunday at 12 noon. If Franklin & Marshall wins that game, the two teams will play again 20 minutes later for the championship. Hopkins will be looking for its fourth straight league title and with a win will become the first JHU team in any sport to win the Centennial Conference championship in four straight seasons.

The Diplomats, which defeated Ursinus, 5-4, earlier in the day, jumped out on top with three runs in the top of the first. With one out Rob Georgiou singled, and after Scott Haft walked and the runners executed a double steal, Gary Kruger hit a three-run home run to give F&M an early 3-0 lead.

The Blue Jays answered with two in the second when senior Craig Cetta (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) singled and scored on a homer by junior Mike Spiciarich (Syosset, NY/Chaminade), his first long ball of the season. In the third, junior Paul Winterling (Glenelg, MD/McDonogh) worked a two-out walk, stole second and scored on a double by junior Mike Durgala (Annandale, VA/Thomas Jefferson). Durgala then stole third while senior Brian Morley (Tappan, NY/Don Bosco Prep) walked, and came around to score when F&M catcher Dan Weber's throw went into left field.

Tony Breslau quickly tied the game at 4-4 by hitting a solo home run with one out in the fourth, and after Eric Milavsky reached on an error, Chris Smith drilled a two-run homer to put the Diplomats up 6-4.

However, Hopkins came right back with four runs in the bottom of the frame. With one out Spiciarich walked, senior Doug Hitchner (Haverford, PA/Episcopal Academy) singled and senior Tim Casale (West Hempstead, NY/Chaminade) singled to load the bases. Morrison was then hit by a pitch to plate Spiciarich, and Winterling followed with a single to score Hitchner and tie the game. Casale then scored when Durgala was hit by a pitch, and Morley followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home Morrison and give the Blue Jays an 8-6 lead after four innings.

F&M answered back in the fifth, as Haft doubled and Kruger hit his second homer of the game to knot the contest at 8-8 and knock Hopkins starter Jeremy Brown (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) out of the game. However Hopkins scored three in the bottom of the fifth and five in the sixth to take control.

Spiciarich led off the fifth with a double and moved to third on a double by Hitchner. Casale then singled home Spiciarch to put the Blue Jays on top for good, and Morrison followed with a single to plate junior Eric Nigro (Randolph, NJ/Taft Prep), who was pinch-running for Hitchner. One out later Durgala singled home Casale to make it an 11-8 game after five.

Spiciarich again led off the sixth and walked, while Hitchner followed with a single. Casale then singled to load the bases and, following two strikeouts, Durgala walked to plate Spiciarich. Morley then followed with a grand slam to put Hopkins up 16-8 with three innings to play.

The Diplomats added a run in the seventh as Kruger scored when Dan Hanecak bounced into a fielder's choice, but Hopkins added two runs in the eighth.

Cetta singled with one out, and after senior Carl Ippolito (Ewing, NJ/Pennington School) reached on an error, both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. Cetta then scored while Ippolito advanced to third on a balk, and Nigro singled home Ippolito with the Blue Jays' 18th run of the game.

Franklin & Marshall would not quit, scoring six runs in the ninth. Sophomore Jason Thayer (Finksburg, MD/Westminster) got two of the first three batters in the inning, but Milavsky singled and Smith followed with a two-run single to make it an 18-11 game. Georgiou then singled home Smith, and after Haft singled, Billy McGuire delivered a single to score Geogiou and bring the Diplomats within five and knock Thayer out of the game.

Kruger greeted Hopkins senior Sven Stafford (Evanston, IL/Evanston) with a single to load the bases, and Cory Caruthers singled home two runs to cut the Blue Jay lead to 18-15 and bring the tying run to the plate. However Stafford shut the door by striking out Breslau to give Hopkins a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Casale finished 4-for-6 with three runs scored for the Blue Jays, who improved to 35-1, while Cetta and Hitchner were each 3-for-5 and Morley drove in a team-high five runs. Thayer picked up the win to improve to 5-0 despite allowing seven runs in 4.1 innings of work, while Stafford notched his seventh save of the year.

Dave Stahlman took the loss for F&M to fall to 4-3 after allowing five runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings pitched. Kruger led the Diplomats attack by going 4-for-6 with five RBIs and three runs scored. F&M is now 24-18 on the season.

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