BALTIMORE, MD- On a day where most of the lineup had their successes at the plate, there was one Blue Jays whose swings stood out a little bit more than the rest. Senior left fielder Matthew Cooper finished the day with three home runs between the two games against Muhlenberg. After launching the third one to left field, Cooper held his hands up above his head in celebration as that homer made him the all-time single season home run leader in program history, surpassing John Christ, who hit 17 in 1998. Cooper's efforts, along with several of his teammates, led the Blue Jays to an emphatic 2-0 day over the Mules on Sunday afternoon.
 
GAME ONE

• Score: #4 Johns Hopkins- 15, Muhlenberg- 1
• Records: JHU (31-3), Muhlenberg (13-20-1)
• Pitching Decision: W: Gabe Romano (7-0), L: Quinn Rovner (3-3)
• The Short Story: Johns Hopkins used the long ball to its advantage in game one on Sunday, sending five balls over the fence to spark a 15-run output. Gabe Romano remained steady on the mound throughout seven innings to earn his seventh win of the season and move JHU to 31-3 on the year.

How It Happened

• Matthew Cooper kicked off his home run barrage for the day in the bottom of the first inning with a runner on first to start the scoring off. A few innings later, Tripp Myers doubled the lead with his third home run of the season to bring in Sam Frank and put JHU up 4-0.
• The Mules picked up their lone run of the game in the top of the fifth on an RBI ground out to second base by Christian Schwarz. Besides giving up nine hits, Romano remained in control throughout his start with runners on base, stranding eighth runners on the base paths. Romano punched out seven batters, which was the second most for him this season.
• The big inning for the Blue Jays offense came in the bottom of the fifth, bringing in seven runs on seven hits to open a 10-run lead.  Two more long balls came in the inning off the bats of Shawn Steuerer and Jimmy Stevens to keep the rally going. At one point, five straight JHU hitters reached base safely and four of those were on consecutive base hits.
• The fifth and final homer for the Blue Jays came in the next inning and it was the final dagger as Sam Frank belted a grand slam to left center field to clear the bases and make the lead 14.
• Jaspar Carmichael and Jack McRae combined to keep the Mules off the board in the final two innings and wrapped up a 15-1 win for JHU in game one of the doubleheader.

GAME TWO

• Score: #4 Johns Hopkins- 17, Muhlenberg- 5
• Records: JHU (32-3), Muhlenberg (13-21-1)
• Pitching Decision: W: Kieren Collins (4-0), L: Joseph Stern (0-4)
• The Short Story: Matthew Cooper stole the headlines with his record breaking performance, but the whole lineup found success in game two as the Blue Jays knocked out 21 hits to bring in 17 runs to put an exclamation point on a two-game sweep of the Mules in a 17-5 win.

How It Happened

• The offense again wasted no time getting the scoring started in the second game of the doubleheader, bringing two runs across in the first inning. Matthew Cooper picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice to bring in Isaiah Winikur and then later Shawn Steuerer drove in Alex Shane on a base hit to make it 2-0. Two more runs were pushed across in the second on a Shane double and a Cooper sacrifice fly.
• Sam Frank made it three straight games with a homer for himself when he left the yard to pick up three RBI in the bottom of the third. Frank also extended his hitting streak to 12 games which is tied for the longest on the team this season.
• It became the Cooper home run show at Babb Field after that as he kicked it off with a moon shot over the left field fence to tie the school home run record. His next at-bat came in the bottom of the sixth to lead things off. Cooper took the first pitch for a ball, then once again unloaded on a pitch to deep left field to break the record. Cooper rounded the bases to an ovation from his team and the Blue Jay fans in attendance.
• Cooper's homer sparked a long sixth inning for JHU hitters. In total, Johns Hopkins brought eight runs in, and five different players tallied RBI's. The inning was capped off by a ringing three-run double from Sam Browning to bring in three runs.
• The final highlight of a tremendous day for Blue Jay hitting came in the bottom of the seventh when Damian Brown smoked the first homer of his collegiate career to left field to put JHU up 17-0.
• Muhlenberg pushed across five runs in the eighth inning, but it was far from enough to keep up with the Jays who coasted to a 17-5 remain and continue to lead the Centennial Conference with a 13-1 record in league play.

Inside the Box Score

• Cooper is now chasing down JHU great John Christ in a different home run category, that being the career home run list. Cooper sits at 30 in his career, which is tied for fourth, and five behind Christ's career total. Cooper has hit 30 homers in the fewest number of games in program history.
• Kieren Collins has been a force on the mound for the Blue Jays since conference play has begun, and he continued that today with six shutout innings in game two. In 20.0 IP, Collins has registered a 0.45 ERA and 14 strikeouts in league games.  
• The Blue Jays home run output today brings their season total to 74. This total now puts the Blue Jays on top of NCAA DIII in home runs this season, passing Lewis & Clark. Their 2.11 home runs per game also paces the country.

Of Note

• Johns Hopkins 32-3 start to the season ties for the third best in school history. Its win percentage is currently .914 which is the best among all NCAA teams across all three levels so far this season.
• The Blue Jays improved to 48-20 against the Mules all-time and they have not lost to them at home since the 2009 season.

 Up Next

• Johns Hopkins will begin its second to last conference series of the season on Tuesday when they travel up to Gettysburg for a 3:30 first pitch with the Bullets.