April 5, 2012

Box Score

WESTMINSTER, MD - The Johns Hopkins baseball team used seven runs in the top of the ninth inning to turn a 7-6 deficit into a 13-7 victory over Centennial Conference and in-state rival, McDaniel, at the Green Terror's home field, Tuesday afternoon.

Junior Mike Kanen drew a one-out walk before senior Aaron Borenstein singled to the left side to put two runners on. Pinch runner sophomore Ben Eckroth advanced to third on a fielding error by the shortstop before junior Jeff Lynch reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Eckroth to cross the plate to tie the game at seven. Sophomore Mike Denlinger singled to left field to load the bases for classmate Richie Carbone. Carbone drove the 3-1 offering to left center for a two-run go-ahead double to drive home Borenstein and Lynch and give Hopkins a 9-7 lead. Denlinger crossed the plate on a wild pitch that moved Carbone to third for pinch hitter senior Mike Musary. Musary hit a deep fly ball to left field to bring around Carbone and give Hopkins a 10-7 lead. Junior Ryan Zakszeski took the first pitch he saw in the ninth far over the left field fence to push the lead to 11-7. Junior Adam Weiner drew a two-out walk for classmate Kyle Neverman in his second at-bat of the inning. Neverman doubled down the left field line to cap off the scoring for the Blue Jays, pushing Weiner across the plate, giving Hopkins a comfortable 13-7 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

Senior closer Aaron Schwartz came out in relief of reliever Blake Platt in the eighth and sat the Green Terror down in order in the eighth and ninth to earn his third win of the season for the Blue Jays and complete the season series sweep of McDaniel.

Hopkins moves to 14-8-2 on the season and 5-1 in the CC while McDaniel falls to 12-8 and 1-5 in the Centennial.

Hopkins opened scoring in the top of the first inning with a sacrifice fly from Denlinger to score Neverman to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead before the Green Terror came up to bat. The Jays are now 12-5-1 when scoring first and 9-4-1 when scoring in the first inning.

The Blue Jays tacked on three more in the top of the second. With the bases loaded, Kanen took a 0-1 offering to right center to score Weiner and Zakszeski. With Neverman on third, Borenstein grounded out to the shortstop to allow Neverman to cross the plate and give the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead.

The Green Terror tied the game in the bottom of the third and took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the fourth. After a leadoff strikeout by Pat Christopher, the Green Terror scored their first run on a bases loaded wild pitch before cutting the lead in half to 4-2 on a bases loaded two-out walk to Chris Longo. Joe Fiore hit a two-run infield single to tie the game at four after three innings of play. In the bottom of the fourth, McDaniel used a leadoff triple from Christopher and a single through the left side to take a 5-4 lead.

Hopkins put up a run in the top of the sixth and seventh to re-take the lead, 6-5. Zakszeski hit a one-out double to left center and moved to third on a balk for Weiner, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field to tied the game at five. Borenstein doubled home Kanen to give the Blue Jays a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.

The Green terror used an RBI single from Mike Freeman and an error by the Blue Jay third baseman to plate two runs and lead 7-6 going into the eighth inning.

Down to their final two outs in the ninth, the Blue Jays completed the come back win with their big ninth inning rally.

Kanen and Borenstein each had three hits on the day for the Blue Jays while Carbone had the go-ahead double in the top of the ninth to win it for the Jays.

Senior Sam Eagleson started the day on the mound for the Blue Jays and got a no decision after throwing 6.1 innings, giving up seven runs, five earned on 10 hits and two walks while striking out seven Green Terror. Schwartz earned the win after throwing two scoreless and hitless innings with three strikeouts.

The Blue Jays return to the diamond when they host Centennial Conference foe, Swarthmore, on Saturday April 7 for a double header with the first pitch scheduled for 12:30 pm.