April 17, 2011

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins baseball team extended its winning streak to a season-high five games with a doubleheader sweep of visiting Ursinus on Sunday afternoon in Centennial Conference action. JHU used a nine-run fourth inning to down the Bears 14-5 in game one, before taking game two by a score of 7-3. Hopkins improves to 18-10 overall and 11-3 in the conference with the two victories, while Ursinus falls to 9-17 overall and 5-9 in conference play.

With Dickinson earning a split of Sunday's CC doubleheader with Franklin & Marshall, the Blue Jays now sit atop the conference standings. Hopkins and Haverford both have 11-3 in-conference marks, but JHU holds the tiebreaker as they swept the regular season series with the Fords.

JHU had to dig out of an early hole in game one as the Bears tallied three runs in the second and two more in the third. Solo shots by graduate students Steve Bejsiuk and Joe Borrelli in the bottom half of the second and third innings, respectively, helped chip away at the early Ursinus lead as the Blue Jays trailed 5-2 after three.

The Ursinus lead wouldn't last for long as JHU brought 14 batters to the plate in the decisive fourth inning. The Blue Jays tallied nine runs on eight hits in the frame to break the game open and take a commanding 11-5 advantage.

Sophomore Jeff Lynch led off the inning with a roped double to left center, sophomore Zach Small drew a walk and Bejsiuk singled and in the blink of an eye the Blue Jays had the bases full with nobody out. Senior Anthony Venditti then delivered a lined RBI single to left and junior Mike Musary followed with a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield to knot the game at 5-5. A sacrifice bunt by sophomore Kyle Neverman advanced Venditti to third and Musary to second as the Bears finally recorded an out in the frame.

Borrelli came to the plate next and delivered an RBI single to left, while senior Jesse Sikorski was the next Blue Jay to join the RBI party with a single to right that brought in Musary. Lynch then recorded his second hit of the frame with an RBI single through the right side of the infield, before Small came just inches shy of his fourth home run of the season as he skied a fly ball to left that bounced off the top of the wall for a two-RBI triple for his team-leading third three-base knock of the year. Small later scored on a wild pitch for the ninth run of the inning to give Hopkins its 11-5 lead.

Bejsiuk added his second homer of the game, a three-run blast to right center, in the sixth to close out the scoring for JHU and give the Blue Jays their final 14-5 advantage.

Junior Sam Eagleson went the distance on the mound in the seven-inning contest and earned the win to improve to 3-1. Eagleson held the Bears scoreless following the third inning and struck out six while walking four for his third complete game of the season.

Junior Steve Christakos is saddled with the loss for Ursinus as he gave up 11 runs on 13 hits in four innings of work. The lefthander falls to 3-5 on the year with the loss.

Game two featured less firepower on the offensive side from both squads as the two teams combined for 15 hits as opposed to the 25 recorded in game one. Hopkins notched two runs in both the second and third innings and another in the fourth to jump out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back in the 7-3 triumph.

Lynch singled to center to open the second, before Small made up for his near homer in game one with a two-run blast to straightaway center field to put JHU up 2-0.

In the third Lynch, Small and Bejsiuk each received free passes with two outs and Venditti delivered with a two-RBI single to right to put the Blue Jays up by four, 4-0.

In the fourth Hopkins notched yet another two-out run as Sikorski bombed his team-leading sixth homer of the year that easily cleared the fence in right and landed onto University Parkway to give JHU a five-run cushion. With the solo shot Sikorski moves into second place all-time in career home runs with 32. The senior now trails only John Christ ('99) in the category, who finished his career with 35.

The Blue Jays recorded an additional two runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 7-0, before the Bears tried to make things interesting with a three-run top half of the eighth to pull within four. There would be no late-game heroics from the visitors, however, as junior Aaron Schwartz put to rest any comeback hopes with a shutout 1.1 innings on the mound to close out the JHU win.

Graduate student Matt Wiegand earned the win for Hopkins to move to 4-1. Wiegand allowed three runs on just six hits while fanning six and walking three in 7.2 innings. Sophomore A.J. Wright takes the loss for Ursinus to fall to 1-3 in 2011. Wright allowed four runs on five hits in three innings.

The Blue Jays spread the wealth at the plate on Sunday as seven different players notched at least one RBI on the day. Bejsiuk led the way with a 5-for-6 line with two home runs, five RBIs and three runs scored, Small tallied two hits, a home run, four RBIs and scored four times and Venditti went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and crossed the plate once.

Lynch reached home a team-high five times throughout the day while also recording three hits and an RBI, while Borrelli, Sikorski and Musary each delivered two RBIs on the day.

Senior Rob Vogt paced Ursinus in game one with a two-run homer in the third inning for a team-high two RBIs, while classmate Danny Ludwig went 3-for-4 with an RBI in game one. Junior Brandon Sullivan led the Bears in game two with a 3-for-4 performance with one run scored, while fellow junior Ben Gresh blasted a two-run homer in the seventh frame to post a team-high two RBIs in game two.

Hopkins returns to action on Monday, April 18 for a non-conference matchup at Lebanon Valley. Game time is scheduled for 3:30 pm in Annville, PA.