April 6, 2005

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD -- Senior third baseman Paul Long (Oklahoma City, OK/Heritage Hall) hit two home runs and seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins scored six runs in the first four innings as the Blue Jays slipped past Shenandoah, 7-5 in non-conference baseball action Wednesday afternoon. The win improves the Blue Jays' record to 11-4 and the victory was the 700th for Johns Hopkins head coach Bob Babb. Now in his 26th season at Hopkins, Babb sports a career record of 700-255-8 (.731) since taking over in 1980.

Shenandoah jumped to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first as sophomore David Jenkins (Front Royal, VA/Warren County) singled home Dan Ziccardy (Harrisonburg, VA/Harrisonburg), who had opened the game with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a single by Adam Duckett (Broad Run, VA/Fauquier). Hopkins freshman Ryan Kuhlman (Hicksville, NY/Bethpage) was able to get out of the inning without any further damage and the Blue Jays answered back with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Junior Gary Rosenberg (West Bloomfield, MI/West Bloomfield) hit a two-out home run to left and Long, who has now hit four home runs in the last three games, followed with a towering blast to center to give the Blue Jays the lead for good at 2-1. Senior Brian Harris (Longwood, FL/Lake Brantley) laced an RBI-double and freshman Jonas Fester (Syosset, NY/Syosset) added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second to push the lead to 4-1.

The Hornets trimmed the deficit to 4-3 in the third when Adam Kuchemba (Plains, PA/Coughlin) led off with a solo home run and Preston Tarleton (Rosemont, MD/Brunswick) singled home Jenkins, who had singled and stole second again. Kuhlman again worked out of trouble to keep it a 4-3 game.

Freshman Matt Benchner (Newton, PA/Holy Ghost) fueled a two-run rally for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the fourth as he tripled home Ian Christie (Endicott, NY/Union Endicott) and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead. Shenandoah again trimmed the margin to one at 6-5 with two runs in the top of the eighth. Kuchemba singled and later scored on an error and Joe Harpine's (Fredericksburg, VA/Colonial Forge) RBI-double plated Duckett, but Long added a solo home run in the bottom of the inning to give the Blue Jays some breathing room and freshman Joe Zaccaria (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset) worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his second save of the season.

Long went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs to lead the way offensively for the Blue Jays. Kuhlman allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out four while walking three in five innings to improve to 2-0 on the year.

Kuchemba, Jenkins and Matt McCormick (Glen Burnie, MD/Dundalk CC) all collected a pair of hits for the Hornets (17-14), who picked up 10 hits in the game but could never get even after falling behind. Taylor DuFrene (Newport News, VA/Woodside) allowed all six runs on five hits in 3.2 innings and took the loss. He is now 3-3 on the year.

Babb, a 1977 Johns Hopkins graduate, took over as the head coach at Johns Hopkins in 1980 and has guided the Blue Jays to 12 appearances in the NCAA Tournament. He is just the 14th coach in Division III baseball history to amass 700 career wins. The Blue Jays have won 25 or more games in each of the last 11 seasons and Hopkins posted a 40-4 record and spent virtually the entire 2004 season ranked number one in the nation uner Babb's guidance.

Johns Hopkins will host Washington College on Friday at 3:30 pm.