April 14, 2011

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - In a wild contest that saw the two sides exchange leads four times, sophomore Kyle Neverman delivered in the clutch with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to propel the Johns Hopkins baseball team to a 10-9 rollercoaster win over visiting Gettysburg on Thursday afternoon at the JHU Baseball Diamond. Hopkins improves to 15-10 (8-3 CC) with the win, while the Bullets drop to 9-17 (3-8 CC).

Despite twice trailing in the game, including a 5-0 deficit after just 2 1/2 innings of play, the Blue Jays managed to climb back into the contest on the strength of strong relief performances by juniors Lucas Henneman and Aaron Schwartz and also benefitted mightily from several Gettysburg errors, as nine of JHU's 10 runs in the game were unearned.

Gettysburg jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after scoring four runs in top of the second and notching one more in the third. The damage could have been far worse in the second if not for the work on the mound by Henneman. Henneman entered in the second with the bases loaded and just one away, but proceeded to retire the next two Gettysburg batters to keep the Bullets' advantage at five.

In the bottom of the third, with Neverman on first after drawing a walk, senior Jesse Sikorski stepped to the plate for Hopkins with two outs and hit a seemingly routine infield pop-up that the Bullets' infield proceeded to drop. Neverman was running on the pitch and continued to round the bases with full speed and was rewarded for his good hustle as he easily crossed home to put the Blue Jays on the board.

Sophomore Ryan Zakszeski then made the Bullets pay for their error as he connected for his first career home run, a two-run shot to left center, to pull Hopkins within 5-3.

The Bullets managed to put runners in scoring position in each of the next three frames, but Henneman worked his way out of jams time after time to hold Gettysburg scoreless in innings four through six.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth and Hopkins still trailing by two, Sikorski launched an opposite-field grand slam that easily cleared the wall in left center to give JHU its first lead of the game, 7-5.

The Bullets, however, responded in a big way with three runs in the seventh to re-take the lead, 8-7. Gettysburg received two free passes to the base paths to begin the inning, before freshman Tommy LeNoir smacked an RBI double to the deepest part of the field in center to bring the Bullets within 7-6. Junior Drew Roy then sent two more runs across the plate as he connected on a two-RBI single to left that gave the Bullets the lead back at 8-7.

In the bottom of the seventh the Blue Jays once again made Gettysburg pay for an error as junior Sam Wernick was able to reach first on a mishandled grounder to third base to give JHU runners on first and second with two outs. Junior Mike Musary then sent a two-RBI triple to the gap in right center for yet another lead change as the Blue Jays took a 9-8 advantage.

In the top of the eighth Gettysburg senior Matt Karis drew a seemingly harmless two-out walk, before sophomore Pat Cody ripped a double that rolled all the way to the fence in left, allowing Karis enough time to make it home and even the count at 9-9.

The ensuing two half-innings were scoreless and the Blue Jays entered the bottom of the ninth with an opportunity to secure their first walk-off victory of the season. Bejsiuk came through with a double down the left field line to open the inning and put JHU in prime position to pull off the victory. Musary then drew a one-out walk to put runners on first and second for Hopkins, before Neverman delivered a walk-off RBI single over the third base bag and Bejsiuk easily crossed home for a 10-9 Hopkins win.

Schwartz struck out three in 2.2 innings to earn the win for the second straight game and improve to 3-1 on the year, while sophomore Brett Norton takes the loss for Gettysburg and is now 1-4. Bullet senior Kyle Conklin pitched well in six full innings for Gettysburg, but received little help from his defense in key moments as he allowed seven runs, all of them unearned, in a losing effort.

Hopkins will travel to Gettysburg on Friday, April 15 to conclude the regular season series with the Bullets. Game time is set for 3:30 pm in Gettysburg, PA.