April 19, 2005

Box Score

GETTYSBURG, PA -- The Johns Hopkins baseball team pounded four Gettysburg pitchers for 18 hits and the Blue Jays scored in every inning except two en route to a 16-8 victory over the Bullets at Kirchhoff Field Tuesday afternoon. The win improves Hopkins' record to 21-6 overall and 9-4 in the Centennial Conference, while Gettysburg falls to 15-16, 8-5.

After building a 4-2 lead through three innings the Blue Jays took control with two runs in the fourth and eight in the sixth. Junior Gary Rosenberg's two-run single plated Rob Sanzillo and Ian Christie to push the lead to 6-2 at the end of four innings. After a scoreless fifth inning the Blue Jays put the game away with the eight-spot in the sixth.

The Blue Jays collected seven hits, benefitted from three Gettysburg errors in the inning and kept the rally alive with timely base hits. Senior Mike Spiciarich drilled a three-run home run, Christie laced a pair of RBI singles, Sanzillo doubled home a run and senior Mike Durgala added a run-scoring single to pace the attack. Sanzillo actually doubled twice and scored twice in the inning for the Blue Jays.

Gettysburg trimmed the deficit to 14-5 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Mike Donohue doubled down the left field line to knock home one run and Andrew Freeburger added a sacrifice fly for the Bullets, who also scored a run off a Blue Jay error.

Hopkins got solo home runs in the seventh from Durgala and in the eighth from pinch hitter Corey Gleason before Gettysburg added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth to close out the scoring.

Sanzillo and Christie collected three hits apiece to lead the way for the Blue Jays. Rosenberg, Durgala, Spiciarich, Paul Winterling and Dave Montegari all had a pair of hits in the game. Christie scored four runs and Durgala and Spiciarich both had three RBIs in the win. Durgala's home run was the 25th of his career and he joins Winterling and former standout John Christ (1996-99) as the only Hopkins players to hit 25 or more career home runs.

Jason Hochfelder worked seven innings and allowed nine hits and five runs (four earned) to pick up the win. Hockfelder is now 5-0 on the year.

Joe Bonyai was 3-for-5 with an RBI and Donohue and Brendan McDonald both collected a pair of hits to lead a 12-hit attack for the Bullets, but the 18 hits Hopkins produced and the six fielding errors were too much to overcome.

Johns Hopkins will return to action on Thursday when the Blue Jays host Messiah at 3:30 pm. The Blue Jays will then host Gettysburg on Friday (3:30 pm) before travelling to Ursinus for a crucial doubleheader on Saturday. Through Tuesday's games Johns Hopkins and Ursinus were tied for second place in the Centennial Conference with identical 9-4 league records. Franklin & Marshall, which beat Swarthmore, 9-4 earlier today, stands alone in first place with a 10-3 league record. Haverford and Gettysburg are tied for fourth place with 8-5 CC records. The top four teams qualify for the Centennial Conference Tournament.