April 25, 2011

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Sophomore Zach Small blasted three home runs to lead the Johns Hopkins baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Muhlenberg on Monday afternoon at the JHU Baseball Diamond. Hopkins took game one, 9-2, before completing the sweep with a 11-4 triumph in the nightcap. With the wins the Blue Jays (21-11, 14-3 CC) secure their second straight Centennial Conference regular season title, while the Mules (10-25-1, 7-10) see their hopes of a spot in the conference tournament go by the wayside with the two defeats.

Since its two losses on April 10 at Swarthmore, JHU has reeled off eight consecutive conference wins to nab the top seed in the conference. With the CC regular season crown wrapped up, Hopkins will serve as the host for this weekend's conference tournament. It will mark the fifth time the Blue Jays have hosted the tournament since it's inception in 2002.

Small led the early scoring barrage for Hopkins in game one, as the Blue Jays crossed the plate four times in both the first and third innings to take a commanding early advantage. Senior Jesse Sikorski recorded the first RBI of the day for Hopkins in the first frame with a single through the right side of the infield that brought in fellow senior Anthony Venditti from second base.

Sophomore Jeff Lynch ripped an RBI double to right center that scored Sikorski all the way from first to give JHU a 2-0 lead. Small then connected on the first of his three homers with a two-run shot to left field to give Hopkins a 4-0 edge.

Muhlenberg notched runs in both the second and third frames to bring the count to 4-2, but poor fielding hurt the Mules in the bottom half of the third as Hopkins would go on to break the game open. Sophomore Kyle Neverman legged out an infield single to third base to open the third, before graduate student Joe Borrelli reached on an infield error. Lynch tallied his second RBI of the day with a liner to right, before Small sent a towering two-run bomb - again over the wall in left field - to give Hopkins an 8-2 lead.

Sophomore Ryan Zakszeski was the final Blue Jay to cross the plate in game one, as he kept the fifth inning alive with a two-out single to left, before stealing second and crossing home plate after a double by graduate student Steve Bejsiuk.

Junior Sam Eagleson went the full seven innings in game one, allowing just two runs on two hits while striking out six. Eagleson found his groove in the third inning as he retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced to move to 4-1 on the year.

Sophomore Rob Shannon took the loss for the Mules to fall to 1-5. Shannon surrendered nine runs on 10 hits while striking out three in six innings.

Hopkins also managed to take an early advantage in game two, but Muhlenberg was able to keep within striking distance until the Blue Jays notched seven total runs in innings six through eight. JHU hit the ball well in game two, but also benefitted mightily from six Muhlenberg errors in the contest.

In the bottom of the first Bejsiuk reached scoring position with a one-out double that grazed off the glove of Mules' third baseman Bobby Spindler and into foul territory in left, while Borrelli followed with a lined RBI single to left to knock in Bejsiuk. Muhlenberg then recorded its first error of the game as the Mules were unable to handle a two-out pop-up by Small behind the third base bag and Borrelli ran out the play and crossed the plate for a 2-0 lead.

A two-out RBI single by Spindler in the second brought the score to 2-1, but Hopkins would add on two more in the third and the Mules would get no closer the rest of the way. After Sikorski drew a one-out walk in the third, Lynch came through with his first career homer to left to push the JHU advantage to 4-1.

The Blue Jays tacked on two more in the sixth, largely due to two Muhlenberg errors, before notching four more in the seventh after two-run homers by both Small and Zakszeski. Small now leads the Centennial in home runs with eight, while Zakszeski's four-base knock was his second of the year.

Graduate student Matt Wiegand turned in yet another strong performance on the mound for Hopkins. Wiegand totaled seven strikeouts in seven innings of work, allowing just one run on five hits to improve to 5-1 on the year. Junior Blake Platt pitched the final two frames to close out the win for the Blue Jays.

Sophomore Ryan Rechten is saddled with the loss for the Mules and drops to 0-3 in 2011. Rechter gave up five runs on seven hits in five innings.

Small went 4-for-7 with three home runs, seven RBIs and crossed the plate three times to lead the way for JHU, while Lynch went 4-for-7 with four RBIs and also scored four times. Venditti notched four hits on the day and also scored twice from the leadoff spot for Hopkins.

Sophomore John Muha and Spindler paced the Mules with two hits apiece in game two, while freshman John Scuderi crossed the plate thrice on the day and sophomore Joseph Vila added a solo homer in the ninth inning of game two.

Hopkins will conclude its conference regular season on Tuesday, April 26 at Washington College. Game time is set for 3:30 pm in Chestertown, MD.