The Basics
• Score: Johns Hopkins - 9, Penn State Harrisburg - 6
• Records: JHU (5-3) • PSUH (3-2)
• Pitching Decision: W – Ben Keever (1-0) • L – Zach Gettys (0-2)
• The Short Story: The Blue Jays hit six solo home runs, going back-to-back three times, en route to a 9-6 victory over Penn State Harrisburg. 

How it Happened
    Trailing 5-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Chris Festa and AJ King hit back-to-back solo homers to retake the lead for JHU on Wednesday evening. The homers were the fifth and sixth of the day for JHU, including the second of the day for Festa, giving the Blue Jays a lead they would not give back.
    Penn State Harrisburg jumped out to an early lead, getting a solo shot from Bret Williams with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. The Lions went deep again in the second inning, this time a two-run blast from Tyler Aug, and just like that it was a 3-0 lead for Penn State Harrisburg against Blue Jay starter Dillon Bowman. 
    With the weather above 60 degrees at the start of the game, the ball continued to fly at Babb Field, as the Blue Jays quickly got on the board in the bottom of the second. Hitting in the seven and eight spots in the order, seniors Mike Ainsworth and Adam Kohl went back-to-back, with two outs, to narrow the deficit to 3-2. 
    After Mike Eberle popped out to lead off the bottom of the third, Matt Ritchie crushed a ball over the right-field fence to tie the game at 3-3. Festa came to the plate and sent a ball sky-high towards the right field fence, just carrying enough to clear it, giving JHU a 4-3 lead. 
    Now pitching with the lead, Bowman walked the lead off batter, Travis Van Houten, before allowing a two-run shot to right, off the bat of Casey Winters. Now trailing 5-4, Bob Babb went to the bullpen, calling for Ben Keever, who retired the next three batters. 
    After retaking the lead, the Jays continued to add on. In the sixth inning, freshman designated hitter Sam Frank ripped a triple into the right center field gap. Eberle dropped a single into center field, scoring the freshman. Ritchie put another ball off-the-wall, sending Eberle to third and advancing to second on the throw. With a new pitcher in the game, Festa grounded out sharply to shortstop, but Eberle came home to score, giving the Jays an 8-5 lead. A King single moved Ritchie up 90-feet before he added the final insurance run, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Austin Sacks. 
    PSU Harrisburg had their only success against the JHU bullpen in the top of the eighth, getting one back with an RBI single from Casey Winters to score Ryan McSorley. Brian Linton got a crucial strikeout to end the eighth and Jaspar Carmichael pitched a flawless ninth to preserve a JHU win, their third straight. 
    
Inside the Box Score
• Festa's two homers gave him the first multi-homer game of the season by a JHU player. The senior is second on the team with a .419 batting average and leads the team with nine RBI. 
• The most utilized Blue Jay ptcher this season, Linton was strong out of the 'pen, once again. Linton struck out six in 2.2 innings pitched, including the first five batters he faced. The junior has 17 strikeouts in 12.2 innings pitched. 
• Ainsworth and Kohl's home runs were both the first of their careers! Ainsworth is hitting .500 in six games this season while Kohl checks in at .308 in five games played. 
• King picked up three hits on the day, his second three-hit game of the season and third multi-hit game in 2020. The sophomore catcher is hitting .367.

Up Next
• The Stevens Ducks come to Babb Field on Saturday afternoon, starting off a busy weekend of baseball for the Blue Jays. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.