May 17, 2007

Box Score

BOYERTOWN, PA - The Johns Hopkins bullpen scattered five hits over the final three innings to preserve a 8-6 victory over the College of New Jersey in NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional action on Thursday afternoon. The Blue Jays (37-9) won their seventh straight contest as junior shortstop Jonas Fester tied the NCAA single season doubles record with his 27th in the fourth inning.

Hopkins jumped on the board in the first inning with three runs. Junior center fielder Rob Pietroforte knocked a one-out double to left center to plate a pair. Pietroforte stole third and came home on a single off the bat of senior second baseman Ian Christie.

TCNJ got its first run of the game in the top of the second on a leadoff homerun. Hopkins answered with a run in the bottom of the second as Fester doubled home junior left fielder Jon Solomon. The Blue Jays would then tack on three more runs in the fourth. Fester had his record tying double, Pietroforte was hit by the pitch to force in a run with the bases loaded and senior right fielder Brett Izzo lifted a sacrifice fly to left.

The Lions scored a run in the fifth, only to see the Blue Jays answer right back with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Hopkins led 8-2 after six innings of play.

TCNJ looked to get a momentum swing going in the seventh as the first two runners reached base against Blue Jay starter Ryan Kuhlman. Junior Ryan Kealy appeared in relief and surrendered a two-run single to Blake Bullis. The Lions then loaded the bases on a single and a Hopkins error. In a pivotal play that swung the momentum back in Hopkins favor, Kealy got the next batter to fly out to right and Izzo threw a bullet to the plate to nail Bullis at home. Izzo then caught a fly ball to get the third out of the inning.

TCNJ had the bases loaded in the eighth but Kealy was able to escape the jam and it was an 8-6 game after eight innings. In the ninth inning, Hopkins got the first out of the inning before TCNJ got two base runners. Sophomore Chez Angeloni relieved Kealy on the mound and got the final two outs of the game to record his first career save.

Kuhlman went six innings and surrendered six runs, four of which were earned on nine hits, picking up his ninth win of the season along the way. Kealy went 2.1 innings and did not give up a run on five hits. Angeloni need just 0.2 innings to record the save. Bob Buskett took the loss for TCNJ after surrendering seven runs in 3.1 innings of work.

Fester went 2-for-5 at the plate with two runs scored and two RBIs. Both of his hits were doubles as he becomes the fourth player in NCAA Division III history to record 27 doubles in a single season. Pietroforte was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored while Solomon and Christie had two hits apiece. Both players extended their hits streaks on the day as Solomon now has an 12-game hit streak matching his season long. Christie now has an 11-game hit streak after his performance today.

Hopkins will return to action tomorrow, May 18th at 1:00 p.m. versus Kean, who defeated Gwynedd-Mercy on Thursday night.

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