April 3, 2012

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - The Blue Jays capitalized on two McDaniel errors in the bottom of the fourth inning to score four runs as the Johns Hopkins baseball defeated the Green Terror, 9-5, Tuesday afternoon at the JHU Baseball Diamond as Hopkins began the second week of Centennial Conference action.

With the win, the Blue Jays improved to 13-8-2 on the season and 4-1 in the Centennial while the Green Terror more to 12-7 on the year and slip to 1-4 in the CC.

The Blue Jays scored at least one run in each of the four innings to give senior starting pitcher Alex Eliopoulos a nine-run cushion. Junior Kyle Neverman led off the game for the Blue Jays reaching on an error by the McDaniel second baseman and stole second before senior Aaron Borenstein singled him to third to put runners on the corners with one out for hot-hitting junior Jeff Lynch. Lynch sent a fly ball deep to center field that could not be corralled by the center fielder that allowed Neverman to score and Lynch reach second and Borenstein move to third. Sophomore Mike Denlinger walked to load the bases for classmate Richie Carbone. After taking the first pitch, Carbone sent a soft chopper to short to reach on a fielder's choice and pushed Borenstein across the plate to give Hopkins a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

Hopkins tacked on another run in the bottom of second. Junior Adam Weiner reached on an infield single and stole second to move into scoring position before moving to third on a passed ball. Neverman collected the second infield single of the day with a hard hit ball to third to score Weiner and give Hopkins a 3-0 lead.

After Lynch hit a line-drive single to center field to open the third inning, Denlinger took the first pitch he saw over the right field fence for his first career home run and gave the Blue Jays a 5-0 lead after three innings.

The Blue Jays capped off their scoring on the afternoon with a big four-run fourth inning to push their lead to 9-0. Neverman drew a six-pitch walk before junior Mike Kanen singled through the right side; both runners were able to advance a base on a throwing error by the McDaniel right fielder, putting two runners in scoring position. Borenstein hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop that allowed Neverman to score before Lynch reached on an error by the shortstop that allowed Kanen to cross the plate for the second run on the inning. Denlinger and Carbone drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for junior Chris Vonderschmidt. Vonderschmidt took the first pitch he saw to right field to score Denlinger and Lynch and chase the McDaniel starting pitcher, James Chiorello.

Eliopoulos had a nearly spotless day on the mound, going five strong innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out three. The right-hander did not throw a ball out of the strike zone until he issued a leadoff walk in the top of the third inning. Eliopoulos allowed a leadoff hit in the top of the first but erased both leadoff base runners with double play ground balls. In his last inning of work, Eliopoulos set the Green Terror in order, closing out the inning getting Joe Fiore to go down swinging.

McDaniel struck in the top of the seventh and scored five runs on five hits, a walk and a wild pitch. Tom Gallo and PJ Anderson each collected an RBI single for the Green Terror while Dan French scored on a wild pitch and Anderson scored on a double play. Sophomore Ed Bryner came in as the second pitcher in the inning and got the Blue Jays out of a jam with two ground balls.

Bryner set the Green Terror down in order in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the game for the Blue Jays and earn the three-inning save, the first of his career, while Eliopoulos earned the win for the Jays to improve to 4-0 on the year. Chiorella took the loss on the mound for the Green Terror to fall to 4-2 on the season.

Denlinger led at the plate for the Jays, going 1-for-1 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs. Lynch finished the day going 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs while Vonderschmidt drove in two as well.

The Blue Jays will complete the season-series with McDaniel when they travel to Westminster, MD on Thursday to face the Green Terror at 3:30 pm.