Box Score March 20, 2012
Box Score
PHOENIX, AZ - Sophomore Tyler Goldstein had his best performance on the mound in a Blue Jay uniform as he held the previously undefeated Pioneers to just one run on five hits. The Johns Hopkins baseball team's offense exploded for a season-high 15 runs as the Blue Jays took down William Paterson, 15-1.
Goldstein's performance on the mound for the Blue Jays was one of the best for a Hopkins' hurler this season and the best performance of Goldstein's career. The sophomore right-hander held a potent William Paterson offense to a season-low one run while striking out four and inducing 13 groundouts. Of the five Pioneer hits off Goldstein, just one was for extra bases, an RBI-double in the third inning. Goldstein got Scott Ptaszynski to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the fourth inning and went on to retire the next nine batters until he issued a lead off walk in the bottom of the eighth. Goldstein erased the walk getting the next batter, Anthony Dorio, to ground into double play for the first and second out in the inning. The Pioneers had their last scoring threat in the inning after the next batter reached on an error followed by a single from Adam Derner to put two runners on. Mike Arnold reached on the second Blue Jay error in the inning to load the bases, but Goldstein kept his composure and forced Vin Fondacaro to ground out to short to end the inning.
The only run for the Pioneers came in the bottom of the third when Ryan Gibbons led off with a single to center field. Gibbons stole second and advanced to third on a ground out from Dorio. Derner took a 1-2 offering from Goldstein to left field for an RBI-double but Goldstein and the Blue Jays would control the rest of the game. With the loss, the Pioneers fell to 8-1 on the season.
The Blue Jays, who improved to 6-5-2 on the season, got on the board first with a three-run second inning. Sophomore Mike Denlinger led off the frame drawing a five-pitch walk before classmate Richie Carbone and junior Chris Vonderschmidt loaded the bases with back-to-back singles. Junior Adam Weiner took a 0-1 pitch to right field to plate Denlinger and keep the bases loaded. Carbone came around to score on a passed ball and junior Kyle Neverman hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Vonderschmidt and give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.
Hopkins added two more in the fifth to increase its lead to 5-1. Junior Jeff Lynch worked the count full before he found a pitch he liked and sent it deep past a diving Ryan Gibbons in center field for his first career triple that brought home classmate Mike Kanen. Denlinger collected his first hit of the game with a single to right center that allowed Lynch to score.
Vonderschmidt led off the sixth with a triple to right center that chased Pioneers' starting pitcher, Glenn Flora. Junior Matt Ricci hit a fly ball to right field that allowed Vonderschmidt to come around to score and gave Hopkins a 6-1 lead.
Ricci drew a one-out walk to lead off the eighth inning and stole second to put him in scoring position for Weiner. The second baseman collected his second RBI-single with a base knock to right field. Neverman followed with his second hit of the game to put two on for Kanen. Kanen sent a ball down the right field line to plate Weiner and senior Aaron Borenstein continued the hit parade for the Blue Jays with a single to center to score Neverman. The Blue Jays led 9-1 going into the bottom of the eighth.
After Goldstein worked himself out of any scoring threat in the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays put up six runs on five hits an a Pioneer error in the top of the ninth. The Blue Jays sent 11 batters to the plate, all pinch hitters. Senior Joe Hemmes and sophomore John Maxwell got things started for the Jays drawing back-to-back walks before junior Hank Sanders singled to right to load the bases. Senior J.R. Santaniello reached on a fielder's choice that got Hemmes out going home, but Maxwell was able to come around to score and Sanders moved to third on an errant throw by the Pioneer third baseman. After a wild pitch scored Sanders, freshman Craig Hoelzer walked on four pitches. Sophomore Jonathan Hettleman hit a single up the middle that allowed Santaniello to score and push the Blue Jay lead to 12-1. Senior Chris Wilhelm took the 0-2 offering from Pioneer reliever Matt Serra deep into center for the Blue Jays third triple of the ball game and plated Hoelzer and Hettleman. Freshman Jake Rogers singled to right field to score Wilhelm and give the Blue Jays a 15-1 advantage. Serra was able to catch Maxwell looking in his second trip to the plate that inning to close out the top of the ninth.
Sophomore Ed Bryner came out in relief of Goldstein to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth. After getting two quick outs, pinch hitter Eric Greenwald singled to left field for just the sixth hit for the Pioneers. Bryner was able to close out the game catching pinch hitter Scott Hansen watching the last strike of the game and stranding Greenwald on first.
Vonderschmidt led at the plate for the Jays, going 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored while Weiner and Wilhelm each drove in two runs. Neverman, Carbone and Weiner all had two hits for the Blue Jays. 13 Hopkins' batters collected at least one hit on the day while 17 of the 18 batters reached base safely at least once.
Flora took the loss on the mound for the Pioneers, lasting five innings, facing one batter in the sixth, while giving up six runs, four earned, on nine hits and three walks. Flora struck out four Blue Jays. Derner was the only Pioneer to collect more than one hit on the afternoon.
The Blue Jays will return to action, tomorrow, March 21, when they take on Wesleyan in a day/night doubleheader at the Chicago Cubs spring training complex as they continue their spring break trip in Arizona. The first pitch of the first game is scheduled for 2 pm.
