• Score:  Johns Hopkins-7, Saint Mary's (MN)-2
• Records: JHU (13-4) • SMU (30-16)
• Pitching Decision: W: Linton (1-0) • L: Mercado (3-3)
• The Short Story: Senior Brian Linton allowed just one run while striking out 10 in 7.1 innings of relief and Jack Pausic hit two home runs to lead Johns Hopkins to a 7-2 win over Saint Mary's (MN) in an elimination game at the St. Paul Regional Sunday afternoon.

How it Happened
• Saint Mary's jumped to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as the Cardinals used a walk, stolen base a two-out Will Matthews RBI-double to jump on top.
• The Cardinals had a chance to pad their lead in the bottom of the second as they used an inning-opening double and a pair of walks to load the bases, but senior Brian Linton came on in relief and got a three-pitch strikeout to kill the threat.
•  Forced to play without regular second baseman Matt Ritchie due to an injury, head coach Bob Babb turned to junior Jack Pausic, who quickly rewarded the decision with a solo home run in the bottom of the third to pull the Blue Jays even and they would grab the lead for good four batters later when Jared deFaria chased home Mike Ainsworth.
• An inning later, it was Pausic coming through again to push the 2-1 lead to 5-1.  Mark Lopez and David Harding opened the inning with back-to-back singles before Pausic took a two-strike pitch over the wall in left to give the Blue Jays what proved to be an insurmountable 5-1 lead.
• Saint Mary's threatened throughout the game as the Cardinals five runners between the fifth and seventh innings and three more in the eighth and ninth combined, but Linton was up to the challenge each time.
• Linton worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts and a two-on, nobody-out situation in the sixth with back-to-back strikeouts and a caught stealing.
• The Blue Jays added two insurance runs in the eighth to push the lead to 7-1 before the Cardinals put together one final push in the ninth.
•  Saint Mary's used three singles and a Blue Jay error to plate a run and had the bases loaded with designated hitter Liam Belleveau stepping in.  As he had all day, Linton worked out of trouble as he induced a 4-6-3 game-ending double play.

Inside the Box Score
•  Linton went three innings longer than he ever had as he worked the 7.1 innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts in relief of Jack McRae, who himself picked up four strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.
• Pausic, who had never played a game at second base, led an 11-hit attack as he was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored.  His two home runs tied the Johns Hopkins single-game NCAA Tournament record (Jesse Sikorski/2009, Ryan Orgielewicz/2017).
• deFaria, Harding and Austin Sacks all collected two hits for the Blue Jays, who collected more than 10 hits for the third straight game this weekend.
• Saint Mary's collected 10 hits and had 18 base runners, but Linton and McRae stranded 13 of them to help the Blue Jays move on.
 
NCAA Regional Notes
• Johns Hopkins is now 16-6 in its last 22 elimination games in NCAA Regional play. 
• The lower seeded team is 5-2 this far in the Saint Paul Regional and the visiting team has won all seven games.
 
Up Next
• Johns Hopkins will play later tonight (approximately 6 pm CT) against the University of Northwestern-St. Paul.  The Eagles are the last remaining unbeaten team in the regional.