• Score: Johns Hopkins - 3, Washington College - 4
• Records: JHU (18-17, 8-8) • WAC (23-14, 9-7)
• Pitching Decision: W: Bendzlowicz (3-1) • L – Savedoff (4-2)
• The Short Story: Washington College scored four runs in the final three innings to knock off the Blue Jays in a crucial Centennial Conference tilt on the final regular-season weekend.
How it Happened
• Tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth inning, the Shoremen scored the game-winning run with two outs in the frame.
Matt Savedoff retired Ben Ruvo to start the ninth inning, getting a first pitch groundout. CJ Gillmer doubled down the line in left to give the Shoremen a one-out runner in scoring position. Matt Bukowski grounded out to short, moving Gillmer up to third. Chris Baker hit a slow grounder to second where
Jack Pausic made the play, but took too long on the throw and the error allowed Gillmer to cross home plate for a 4-3 lead. The Jays got a two-out base knock from
Dylan Whitney, but Alex Bendzlowicz got
James Ingram to ground out on the first pitch, ending the contest.
• Blue Jay righty
Matt Savedoff allowed a base hit to Chris Baker to open the contest, but settled in beautifully, retiring the next nine batters before allowing a hit in the fourth inning. The Jays nearly ended a 12-inning scoreless streak in the first inning, loading the bases, but Washington College's opener, Michael Roseman, worked out of the jam.
• Mike Smith entered the game for Washington College on the mound and faced
Sam Frank to start the inning. Frank hit a flyball to right that just got enough carry to leave the yard, giving the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
• After allowing a leadoff single in the bottom of the third inning to
Shawn Steuerer, Smith settled in, retiring the next 12 batters he faced.
• The Shoremen finally got on the board against Savedoff in the top of the seventh, taking a 2-1 lead. Jack Kingman started things off with a one-out single through the right side. Ruvo pinch ran for Kingman, stealing second to put a runner in scoring position. Gillmer hit a liner up the middle, freezing Ruvo and allowing him to only advance to third on the one-out single. Bukowski executed a sacrifice squeeze push bunt to second base, scoring Ruvo to tie the game at 1-1 with two outs. Baker laced a double to left center, scoring Gillmer to put the Shoremen on top, but Ingram rifled him out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.
• Frank opened up the inning with another extra-base hit, this time a double down the left field line. Whitney sacrificed Frank over, giving the Jays a runner on third with less than two outs. Ingram hit a chopper to third, but Frank, running on first contact, was thrown out at the plate.
Matthew Cooper stepped up to the plate and blasted one over the right field fence, giving the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead with a two-run shot.
• Savedoff retired Max Ruvo to open up the eighth inning, but allowed a ground-rule double to Danny Sheeler with one out. Noah Iseman capitalized, lacing a one-out double down the right field line to score Sheeler and tie the contest at 3-3.
Inside the Box Score
• After a 1-11 stretch in the last three games, Cooper bounced back in a big way, going 3-4 at the dish with a homer, two singles and two RBI. Cooper is now up to 40 RBI on the season to lead the Blue Jays.
• Frank joined Cooper with a multi-hit day, going 2-4 with a run scored and an RBI on the solo homer. Frank continues to be an extra-base machine, hitting his 10th double and third homer of the year to now give him 15 out of 26 extra-base hits this season.
• Blue Jay freshman
Matt Savedoff gave a gutty performance on the mound, throwing his first complete game and the fourth CG of the season from Blue Jay pitching. Savedoff allowed just three earned runs and struck out six on the mound, lowering his ERA to a team-best 3.32 in 59.2 innings. The freshman is second on the team with 50 strikeouts.
• Centennial Tournament Update - Johns Hopkins enters tomorrows doubleheader at Haverford in desparation mode to earn a spot in the four-team Centennial Tournament. After today's loss, the Blue Jays sit in sixth-place in the conference at 8-8. Washington College, Dickinson and Haverford all earned wins today to improve to 9-7 in conference play. The Blue Jays need a sweep of the Fords tomorrow afternoon to make the Tournament. A split would leave Haverford a game ahead and no matter the outcome of the Washington College vs. Dickinson series, one of those teams would be guaranteed to finish ahead of Hopkins. With a sweep of Haverford, the Jays would jump the Fords at 10-8 and drop the Fords to 9-7. If the Shoremen and Red Devils split, both would sit at 10-8 with JHU. The Shoremen would hold a tiebreaker over the Blue Jays with a sweep of Hopkins this week, but the Jays would hold a tiebreaker over Dickinson with a sweep of the Red Devils.
What's Next
• Let's win two! The Jays and Fords will kick off tomorrow's double dip at 12 pm.
