April 28, 2012

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The Johns Hopkins baseball team fell to Haverford in a doubleheader sweep on a rainy and cold Saturday afternoon in Baltimore. The Blue Jays fell 4-3 in the first game before the Fords slipped past the Blue Jays 9-7 in the nightcap.

The Blue Jays move to 23-12-2 on the season and 12-4 in the conference while the Fords improve to 21-17 on the year and finish their Centennial Conference schedule at 12-6.

The Blue Jays got on the board first in the opening game when junior Ryan Zakszeski homered to right center to lead off the fifth inning. The Blue Jays and Fords traded runs in the sixth before Haverford broke open the scoring with a three-run seventh.

The Fords scored three runs on three hits and two walks to take a 4-2 lead. The Blue Jays answered in the bottom of the eighth but couldn't overtake the Fords. With the bases loaded and no outs, junior Mike Kanen grounded out to second and allowed classmate Chris Vonderschmidt to cross the plate.

Haverford's starter, Tommy Bergjans, turn the Blue Jays away in the bottom of the ninth to finish with a complete game win in the opening game of the double header.

Senior Alex Eliopoulos suffered his first loss of the season on the mound, going 6.2 innings, giving up four runs on 14 hits while striking out six.

The Blue Jays and Fords traded runs in the second inning of the second game before Haverford took the lead, 2-1, in the top of the fourth. Hopkins quickly answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for the first time in the game, 3-2. With junior Jeff Lynch on first, Zakszeski belted his second home run of the afternoon, this time over the left field fence. Hopkins added another run in the bottom of the fifth to push its lead to 4-2.

The Fords bounced back and put up four runs in the top of the sixth to lead the Blue Jays, 6-4. Lynch got the Jays to within a run in the home half of the inning with a solo home run to left field.

The Haverford bats would not be quieted, however, as the Fords scored a run in the final three innings. The Blue Jays tied the game in the bottom of the seventh two runs coming on costly Ford errors, but could not retake the lead. Junior Adam Weiner reached on an infield single to the pitcher to lead off the seventh before coming all the way around to score on a throwing error by the Fords' third baseman that allowed classmate Kyle Neverman to reach base and make it to third. Kanen then reached on a dropped third strike that rolled all the way to the backstop and brought around Neverman.

Senior Aaron Schwartz took the loss on the mound for the Blue Jays, throwing two innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits while striking out one.

Zakszeski finished the day 4-for-7 with three RBI and two runs scored.

The Blue Jays return to the diamond when they travel to Allentown, PA to take on Muhlenberg in their final CC double header before the conference tournament. The first pitch of the first game is scheduled for 12:30 pm.