The Blue Jays
«  Johns Hopkins enters the 2019 Division III World Series with a record of 35-11.
« The Blue Jays have won eight straight, nine of 10 and 14 of 16 entering the Division III World Series.

The Facts
«  This is the 123rd season of Johns Hopkins baseball.  JHU first fielded a baseball team in 1887.
«  Johns Hopkins enters the Division III World Series with an all-time record of 1,538-982-29 (.609).
«  The Blue Jays' first game at the Division III World Series against Babson will be the 2,550th in program history.

Fourth World Series Appearance
«  Johns Hopkins is making its fourth trip to the Division III World Series - all four have come under the direction of Bob Babb, who is in his 40th season as the Blue Jays head coach.
«  Babb guided the Blue Jays to a third-place finish in 1989, a runner-up finish in 2008 and an appearance in 2010 that ended with a fifth-place showing.
«  Hopkins' runner-up finish in 2008 saw the Blue Jays come within one strike of the national championship before Trinity (CT) forced back-to-back walks with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to score the game-tying and game-winning runs.

The Blue Jay Bracket
«  The Division III World Series format includes two, four-team brackets.  Each bracket will play to a double-elimination winner with the two bracket winners advancing to a best-of-three championship series.
«  Johns Hopkins will open play at the Division III World Series on Friday, May 31 at 4:30 pm (CT) against Babson (38-8), which swept Cortland St. to win its Super Regional.
«  Joining Johns Hopkins and Babson in the "bottom" bracket are Birmingham Southern (39-13) and Heidelberg (35-13).

That Was Super
«  Johns Hopkins punched its ticket to the Division III World Series with a two-game sweep against Shenandoah at home in the Super Regional.
«  The Blue Jays topped the Hornets 6-3 in the Super Regional opener and then capped its two-game sweep with a 7-3 win in game two.

Post-Season Regulars
«  Johns Hopkins is in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament for the 23rd time in 2019, including the 22nd time under head coach Bob Babb.
«  The Blue Jays are 43-41 all-time in the NCAA Regionals, 2-0 in NCAA Super Regionals and 7-6 in the Division III World Series.
«  The Blue Jays' first game at the 2019 Division III World Series against Babson will be the 100th NCAA Tournament game in school history.

Poll Position
«  Johns Hopkins ended the regular season ranked 21st in the Collegiate Baseball/ABCA Poll, 22nd in the NCBWA/D3baseball.com Poll and third in the official NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Rankings.

Series History vs. the Field
«  Johns Hopkins is 8-2 all-time against the seven other teams in the 2019 Division III World Series.
«  The Blue Jays have played five against the three other games in their four-team bracket with a 3-1 mark against Heidelberg and an 0-1 record all-time against Babson.  Johns Hopkins has never played Birmingham-Southern.
«  JHU's only game against Babson, its first opponent this week, came on March 15, 1997 in Florida by a score of 14-7.
«  Two of JHU's 10 all-time games against teams in the 2019 Division III World Series have come at the World Series.  The Blue Jays beat then top-ranked Chapman, 5-4, en route to a national runner-up finish in 2008 and dropped a 3-2 series-opening decision to Heidelberg in 2010.

State of Affairs
«  Like the university itself, the Johns Hopkins baseball team has a national recruiting base that is reflected in the makeup of its roster.
«  The Blue Jays' 40-man roster includes players from 15 different states and one player from Canada.
«  Leading the way are a team-high six players who hail from Maryland, New Jersey and New York.  Four players are from Texas and three each come from Virginia and Florida.

May Day
«  Johns Hopkins is 8-0 since the calendar flipped to May.  The Blue Jays won three straight games in the Centennial Conference Tournament, added three more wins in the NCAA Regional Tournament and then swept Shenandoah in two straight in the Super Regional.
«  The Blue Jays have outscored the opposition 74-16 in their eight games in May and haven't allowed more than three runs in any game in May.

Close Calls
«  Johns Hopkins is 5-3 in one-run games and 9-4 in games decided by two runs or less this season.

Babb Fourth in Wins Among Active Head Coaches
«  Johns Hopkins head coach Bob Babb enters the World Series ranked fourth among active Division III coaches with 1,172 career victories.
«  Bob Babb is one of five active Division III coaches with 1,000 or more victories.

Winningest Active Division III Coaches (Through Games of May 25, 2019)

1. Tim Pettorini (Wooster) - 1,243-460-6
2. George Valesent (Ithaca) - 1,204-544-8
3. Tom Austin (Methodist) - 1,182-543-10
4. Bob Babb (Johns Hopkins) - 1,172-430-15
5. Ed Flaherty (Southern Maine) - 1,041-459-4

Going Deep
«  Johns Hopkins has hit 80 home runs this season, a mark that is tied for the program single-season record.  The Blue Jays also hit 80 home runs in 2010, which was also the last time JHU reached the Division III World Series.
«  JHU's 80 home runs lead the nation and are five more than Christopher Newport, which ranks second with 75.
«  Johns Hopkins is one of just three teams in the nation with 55 or more home runs on the season as Christopher Newport (75) and Penn State-Harrisburg (71) are the only other teams with 55 or more on the year.

Among the National Leaders
«  In addition to leading the nation in home runs, Johns Hopkins also ranks among the top 10 in the nation in eight other statistical categories.
«  Among the highlights of JHU's other top 10 statistical rankings are overall walks (2nd/293), slugging percentage (4th/.506) and runs per game (5th/9.2).

Heading to Prague
«  A regular occurrence for the last 30+ years under the guidance of head coach Bob Babb has been foreign trips for the Blue Jay baseball program.
«  Johns Hopkins will make its 12th foreign trip this summer as the team, parents, alumni and friends head to the Czech Republic.  This will be JHU's second trip to the Czech Republic as JHU also visited there in 1995.
«  The first trip that Babb orchestrated was in 1986, when received permission from the US State Department to travel to Cuba as part of an exchange with Havana University.

JHU Foreign Trips Under Head Coach Bob Babb

1986 - Cuba
1988 - Soviet Union
1992 - Czechoslovakia & Russia
1995 - Czech Republic
1998 - Australia
2001 - Italy
2004 - Germany & Austria
2007 - Scotland & England
2010 - Spain & Portugal
2013 - Iceland & Sweden
2016 - Switzerland
2019 - Czech Republic

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