Game Notes
Tournament Page
NCAA Page
 
In The Tournament:
The Johns Hopkins baseball team returns to the NCAA Tournament after missing out last season as the Blue Jays captured an automatic bid by winning the Centennial Conference Tournament. This is JHU's seventh NCAA appearance in the last 10 years and 23rd overall.
 
New Format:
This is the first season Division III baseball has gone to the regional and super regional format. Thirteen regional sites will have four teams competing and three regionals will have two teams competing. The four-team regionals are a double-elimination format while the two-team regionals are a best-of-five series. The 16 advancing teams will move onto the super regionals, which are a two-team, best-of-three tournament. Those winners will move onto the double-College World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with the final two teams competing in a best-of-three series to determine the national champion.
 
The Opponent:
The Blue Jays and Hornets are no strangers to each other, especially in the postseason as the two teams have met seven times with Shenandoah holding a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series. The two teams have met four times in the postseason (three times in the regionals and once in the world series) and the Hornets are 3-1 in those games. The last time they met was on May 21, 2017, in the Mid-Atlantic Regional in York and Shenandoah eliminated the Blue Jays, winning the game by a score of 4-2.
 
The Hornets enter the Super Regional with a 35-13 record and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the ODAC Tournament. They dropped the first game of the Union, NJ regional to hosts Kean and then went onto win the next four games, including sweeping the Cougars on Sunday to advance to the Super Regionals. The Hornets have won their last four games and are 9-2 so far in the month of May with all of those 11 games being played on the road or at a neutral site.
 
Last Time Out:
JHU rolled through the regional round as Hopkins outscored its opponents, 28-7 in the three victories. Josh Hejka and Jack Bunting threw complete games against Farmingdale St. and Susquehanna while Sean McCracken went 6.1 innings against #7 TCNJ in the championship game. Matthew Ritchie led the way going 5-10 in the series while Pete Manny had a team-leading five RBIs in the three games.
 
Power Surge:
Hopkins has been one of the best power hitting teams in the country as the Blue Jays lead Division III with 79 home runs this season. Johns Hopkins has hit a home run in 33 of 44 games this season including a seven-home run game against McDaniel on April 12. JHU is 7-4 this season when not hitting a home run in a game, but are 17-4 when hitting at least two homers in a game. Nate Davis is tied for the third most home runs in Division III with 16 and two other JHU players have hit at least 10 home runs this year as Chris Festa has 13 and Chris DeGiacomo has 12. Overall, 16 different Blue Jays have hit a home run this season.
 
Milestone Watch:
• Davis is just one home run shy of tying the single-season program record for home runs (17) which was set by John Christ in 1998.
• Jack Bunting (12-0) is tied for first all-time single-season victories as the matched the program record with his complete game victory over Susquehanna. Sam Eagleson also won 12 games in 2010.
• Hejka needs one more save to tie the career record, held by Sven Stafford, as he currently has 13. His 22 appearances this season ties him with Blake Platt for the single-season record of 22 which Platt set in 2012. Hejka holds the program record for most career appearances as he has appeared in 71 games so far.
• The 79 home runs by Johns Hopkins are one shy of matching the program record of 80, which was set in 2010.
• Senior Tim Kutcher is two hits away from 100 in his career.
• Matthew Ritchie currently sits second in single-season walks as the sophomore has worked 39 walks this year. Conor Reynolds holds the record with 43 walks in 2017.