March 18, 2011

Box Score

PHOENIX, AZ - Graduate student Matt Wiegand and juniors Lucas Henneman and Ryan Scherich combined for a seven-hit shutout to lead the seventh-ranked Johns Hopkins baseball team to a nail-biting 1-0 victory over William Paterson on Friday morning in Phoenix, AZ.

Wiegand looked sharp in his first start of the season, allowing five hits while striking out three in five innings to earn the win. Henneman, making his first appearance on the mound in 2011, gave up just two hits and allowed only one runner to reach scoring position in 3.1 innings, while Scherich closed out the win for Hopkins with two strikeouts to earn his first save of the year.

Wiegand worked his way out of several jams in the early going, as the Pioneers had runners in scoring position each of the first three innings. With runners on first and second and one out in the first, Wiegand recorded a strikeout and forced a groundout to first base to escape unscathed. In the second the Pioneers also had runners on first and second - this time with two outs - and Wiegand got William Paterson leadoff hitter A.J. Flores to line out to left. The graduate student then got out of his most difficult jam in the bottom half of the third. With a runner on second and nobody out, Wiegand notched two strikeouts and forced a flyout to left to keep the Blue Jays hopes of a shutout alive.

Hopkins tallied its lone run of the contest in the bottom half of the third. Senior Anthony Venditti opened the inning with a single to center field to give JHU its first baserunner of the game. Junior Sam Wernick then smoked a liner to deep left center that resulted in a triple and knocked in Venditti for what would prove to be the game-winner.

The Blue Jays were only able to muster three hits for the remainder of the game, but strong pitching and defense allowed JHU to preserve the victory.

Hopkins took its 1-0 advantage into the ninth with the middle of the Pioneers batting order due to the plate. Freshman Ken O'Donnell led off the inning with a single up the middle, before senior Mike Moran moved O'Donnell into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.

Scherich then came to the mound for JHU with the game on the line and came up huge, fanning both batters he faced to give the Blue Jays the shutout win.

Seventh-ranked JHU returns to action with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 19. The Blue Jays will face off against Eastern Connecticut State at 9:30 am, before playing 19th-ranked Pomona-Pitzer at 1:30 pm.