Box Score

FORT MYERS, FL - Trevor Williams threw seven scoreless innings for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays and the offense capitalized on scoring opportunities against the Bethel University Royals en route to a 5-1 win.

Hopkins caught a scare in the first inning, as Bethel had runner on the corners with one out, but Williams got out the jam, forcing Bret Neuville to pop out to second before striking out Grant Anderson. Williams stranded two more runners on base in the second, keeping the game scoreless.

Hopkins got on board in the third, as Raul Shah led things off with a single to center. An errant pickoff throw to first saw Shah take second easily. Mitch Weaver moved Shah to third with a grounder to second. Bethel pitcher Noah Callister then threw a wild pitch that saw Shah come across home plate and put the Jays on the board, 1-0.

It looked as though Bethel was going to score, as the Royals threatened with runners on the corners with two down. But again Williams bared down and got Neuville to ground into an inning-ending fielder's choice.

Craig Hoelzer led off the fourth inning with a double to deep center for the Jays, before advancing to third on a Chris Casey groundout. Conor Reynolds then hit a sac-fly to center, scoring Hoelzer from third.

Again Bethel had runners on second and third in the fourth, and again Williams battled to keep the Royals off the board, forcing Jarad Watts to groundout to end the inning.

The fifth inning saw no runs on either side, but Hopkins added a pair in the sixth. With two outs, and Chris Casey sitting on first base, the beneficiary of a fielder's choice, Reynolds and Dan Albert drew walks to load the bases. Shah came up and nailed a hard hit ball right through the legs of the third baseman and into left field, scoring Casey and Reynolds, and pushing the Hopkins lead to 4-0.

Williams exited after pitching a scoreless sixth and Justin Drechsel came in to start the seventh. After a leadoff double down the line, Drechsel got Watts to fly out to Hoelzer in left. Matt Conrad brought home the Royals' first and only run of the game with a single up the middle. From there Drechsel hunkered down and finished the seventh, before getting six straight outs in the eighth and ninth.

Hopkins added a run in the eighth, as Casey crossed home plate for the second time in the game, giving Hopkins a 5-1 edge.

The Jays are back in action tomorrow against Knox College.