April 5, 2007

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The #19 Johns Hopkins baseball used a strong pitching performance from sophomore Chez Angeloni and timely hitting from the heart of the line-up to defeat Washington College, 10-0 on Thursday afternoon in Baltimore. The Blue Jays (15-4, 5-0 CC) have now won five out of their last six contests while Washington (9-8, 3-2 CC) has dropped two of its last three.

Hopkins went with a game plan that has proven successful all season long and that was scoring in the first inning of the ball game. Senior Brett Izzo reached on an error with one out, stole second and came around to score on a single from senior Ian Christie. The Blue Jays are now 12-2 when they score a run in the first inning of the game.

It remained a 1-0 game until the bottom of the third when Izzo stroked a one-out single to right center, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a single from senior Rob Sanzillo. Sanzillo would come around to score on an error and junior Rob Pietroforte would score on a Christie groundout.

Hopkins would tally another run in the bottom of the fourth as junior Matt Benchener crossed the plate. In the fifth inning, Sanzillo had an infield single to lead off the inning and Pietroforte cracked his first home run of the year over the center field fence. Christie and freshman Lee Bolyard followed that blow with back-to-back singles before junior Jon Solomon used a two-out single to score the runners. The Blue Jays led 9-0 after five innings of play, giving Angeloni plenty of room to work with as he allowed just three hits through seven innings.

The Blue Jays would add one more run in the bottom of the seventh, as junior Nate Adelman led off with a pinch-hit double and scored on a single to left field off the bat of senior Nick Venezia.

Angeloni pitched seven strong innings for the Blue Jays as he allowed just three hits and struck out three to improve to 1-2 on the year. Chris Smith took the loss for Washington after going four innings and surrendering five runs.

The heart of the Blue Jays line-up had a strong day at the plate as Sanzillo, Pietroforte and Christie combined to go 6-for-10 with five runs scored and five RBIs. Sanzillo was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and RBI as he extended his hit streak to 14 games. Pietroforte was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs. He had two walks to go along with a double and a homerun. Christie was 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs.

Izzo extended his hit streak to 12 games with a third inning single while Solomon was for 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Hopkins returns to action tomorrow when it completes the home-at-home series by traveling to Washington College. First pitch in Chestertown is set for 3:30 p.m.

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