• Score:  Johns Hopkins-11, University of Northwestern-7
• Records: JHU (14-4) • NW (34-11)
• Pitching Decision: W: McKoon (1-0) • L: Wall (5-4)
• The Short Story: Sixth-seeded Johns Hopkins jumped out to a 9-3 lead and held off a mid-inning rally by the University of Northwestern-St. Paul to pick up an 11-7 win in the NCAA St. Paul Regional Sunday evening. The win advances the Blue Jays to the regional title game.

How it Happened
• The Blue Jays jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first as Jared deFaria and James Ingram had run-scoring singles and Austin Sacks ripped an RBI-double to left center off Eagle starter Phil Wall.
• The early 3-0 lead held until the bottom of the second, when Aaron Stevenson raced home on a sacrifice fly after opening the inning with a triple and Bryce Crabb blasted a solo home run to left to make it 3-2.
• Johns Hopkins answered quickly in the top of the third with four more hits off Wall, including another run-scoring single from Sacks and a two-run home run from Ingram deep to left to extend the leads
• The Eagles scratched out a run in the bottom of the third without the benefit of a hit as they used four walks to plate a run and pull within 6-3.  Freshman Wyatt Copeland inherited a bases-loaded, one-out situation in relief and held Northwestern to just the one run to maintain the three-run lead.
• Hopkins produced its third, three-run inning of the game in the top of the fourth with a four-hit attack that was highlighted by a two-run double from deFaria and the third run-scoring single of the night for Sacks.
• The back-and-forth affair carried into the bottom of the fourth as the Eagles got a pair back with both runs coming with two outs.  A solo home run from Guerin Szafraniec plated the first and Northwestern later added a run on a throwing error to make it 9-5 after four.
• The four-run lead was cut in half in the bottom of the fifth as the Eagles got a run-scoring single and forced in another run with a bases-loaded walk to pull within 9-7.  As it turned out, those would be the last runs of the night for Northwestern.
• Hopkins slowed the Eagle rally with a two-out run of their own in the top of the seventh.  After Northwestern reliever Max Barthel quickly retired the first two Blue Jays, senior Mark Lopez hit a towering home run to left to push the JHU lead to three at 10-7.
• The Blue Jays pushed across another single run in the top of the eighth as Jack Pausic opened the inning with a double off the wall in center and Dai Dai Otaka laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move him to third before Mike Ainsworth lifted a fly ball to right that scored Pausic for Hopkins' 11^th and final run.
• Carson McKoon, who had entered the game with two outs in the bottom of the fifth for the Blue Jays, set the Eagles down in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to lock down the victory.

Inside the Box Score
•  McKoon went the final 4.1 innings and allowed just one hit and struck out a pair to pick up his first win of the season.
• The Blue Jays pounded out 18 hits, including four doubles and two home runs, in the victory.  The 18 hits matched Hopkins' season high.
• Sacks, Ingram, Lopez and Ainsworth all collected three hits and Sacks, Ingram and deFaria all had three runs batted in for the Blue Jays.
• Four different players collected a pair of hits for the Eagles, who scored all of their runs between the second and fifth innings.
 
NCAA Regional Notes
• Johns Hopkins advances to the regional title game for the seventh time in school history and the sixth time since 2004.
• The Blue Jays claimed regional titles in 1989, 2008, 2010 and 2019 and finished as runners-up in 2004 and 2007.
• Dating back to 2008, Johns Hopkins improved to 17-6 in its last 23 regional elimination games.
• With 18 hits tonight, the Blue Jays are hitting .364 (56-of-154) in the regional tournament.
• The lower seeded teams are 6-3 in the St. Paul Regional and the visiting team has won all nine games.
 
Up Next
• Johns Hopkins will play the winner of the first game on Monday (Misericordia-University of Northwestern) in the regional title game at 2:30 pm (CT).