April 16, 2013

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD -- Gettysburg took advantage of a pair of costly errors and tallied seven runs in the fourth inning to defeat No. 3 Johns Hopkins, 8-7, Tuesday afternoon at the JHU Baseball Diamond. The loss snapped the Blue Jays' streak of 20 consecutive wins, dropping the team to 27-3 (10-1 CC).

A five-run lead unraveled for Hopkins in the fourth as Pat Cody led things off for Gettysburg (21-10, 7-4 CC) with a double into the left field corner. Two batters later, Ben Roessle scored Cody after Kyle Neverman mishandled a groundout at short. Scott Zangellini then doubled into the right field gap to score two runners and cut the Hopkins lead to 6-4.

The inning continued after another infield error by the Blue Jays which led to an RBI single by Al Posch. The dagger of the frame came when Tommy LeNoir smacked an opposite field three-run home run over the right field porch to give the Bullets an 8-6 advantage.

The Blue Jays answered quickly, as senior Jeff Lynch was hit and eventually made his way to third base in the fifth inning. Ryan Zakszeski scored the first baseman with a single to right center to draw Hopkins within one, 8-7.

Hopkins was poised to even the game as Chris Wilhelm came to bat in the seventh with runners on first and third. The Jays fell on hard luck, however, as Wilhelm hit a line drive back to the pitcher, who subsequently doubled-off Denlinger at first to end the inning.

Things were pointing toward a 21st consecutive victory early when the Blue Jays scored five runs in the opening frame after a grounder to second squirted through the legs of Scott Zanghellini. Hopkins scored two runs on the error, before Zakzseski belted a three-run homer to left field.

Chris Casey's leadoff double in the second inning quickly led to another run. Adam Weiner put down a sacrifice bunt to advance Casey, and Neverman hit a single through the left side to give the Jays a 6-0 lead.

The run effectively ended the day for Gettysburg starting pitcher Chris Yoda, who was tagged for one earned run (six runs) in only 1.1 innings of work. Luke Lawrence saved the day in relief, however, shutting down the Hopkins bats to the tune of four hits in seven innings.

Zakszeski stayed hot for the Blue Jays, batting 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a walk. Freshman Colin Friedman took the first loss of his career, allowing three runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings. The relief pitchers bounced back well from the Widener game, however, as Richie Carbone, Thomas Harper and Zach Augustine all had strong outings.

Hopkins plays its sixth game in five days tomorrow as it travels to Montclair State for a night game beginning at 7:00 pm.

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