March 17, 2011

Box Score

PHOENIX, AZ - The Johns Hopkins baseball team split its opening two games of the Greater Phoenix Invitational on Thursday, defeating Western New England, 7-1, before falling, 13-7, to Dickinson State. The Blue Jays are now 4-1 on the year.

The Blue Jays led from start to finish against the Golden Bears, scoring five of their seven runs in the first two innings to take a commanding advantage from the start. Graduate student Steve Bejsiuk registered the first hit of the game in the bottom half of the first with a single up the middle, before advancing to second on a fielder's choice. With two outs and Bejsiuk on second, senior Jesse Sikorski tallied his first RBI of the contest with a single that knocked Bejsiuk home.

Sophomore Zach Small singled to keep the inning alive for the Blue Jays and two walks from WNEC sophomore pitcher Kevin Jefferis allowed Sikorski to cross the plate and JHU walked away with a 2-0 edge after one inning of play.

The Golden Bears tacked on their only run in the contest in the top half of the second, but Hopkins answered in the bottom with three more runs to take a 5-1 lead. Senior Tim Rappazzo singled to right, junior Sam Wernick reached on an error and junior Aaron Borenstein loaded the bases with a single of his own to left. Sikorski came up big with runners in scoring position for the second straight inning, knocking in both Rappazzo and Wernick to notch his second and third RBIs. Small then tallied an RBI with a groundout to the right side of the infield that allowed Borenstein to score.

The Blue Jays added another run in the fifth when sophomore Chris Wilhelm stole home with the bases loaded after a failed pickoff attempt to first by WNEC sophomore relief pitcher Jeff Richardson.

Junior Alex Eliopoulos (3-0) remained perfect on the year for JHU with his third win of the young season. Eliopoulos gave up just one run in six innings with seven strikeouts.

In the second game of the day against Dickinson State, the Blue Jays fell behind early and were never able to recover as the Blue Hawks notched three runs in the second and added four more in the third to take a 7-0 lead.

Hopkins chipped away at the DSU lead with one run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to pull within 7-4, but JHU would get no closer as the Blue Hawks scored twice in the bottom half of the fifth and eventually secured the six-run win.

Sophomores Jeff Lynch and Chris Vonderschmidt and junior Mike Musary were the standout performers for Hopkins against Dickinson State. Lynch went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, Vonderschmidt posted a 3-for-4 line with a run scored and an RBI and Musary recorded a team-high three RBIs while going 2-for-3 at the plate.

DSU junior pitcher Erik Bastio picked up his first win of the season to move to 1-1 on the year. Bastio and senior reliever Chase Doremus combined for 11 strikeouts in the win.

Hopkins returns to action on Friday, March 18 with a 9:30 am tilt against William Paterson.