BALTIMORE, MD – The No. 3-ranked Johns Hopkins baseball team faced seventh-ranked Salisbury in its first road test of the season Sunday afternoon, routing the Sea Gulls 9-2. The Blue Jay offense proved too powerful for the Sea Gulls' pitching staff, scoring five of its nine runs with two outs.
Salisbury (7-2) jumped out to an early lead, scoring the opening run in the first inning before
Quinn Rovner picked up a couple of ground balls to get out of an early jam. The graduate student settled into the contest tossing four innings of scoreless baseball, before surrendering an additional run in the sixth.
The Blue Jay offense started slow, having its first six batters retired in order before all cylinders started to fire for Hopkins (9-0).
Jimmy Stevens led off the third inning with a double, followed by a
Clay Hartje two-run bomb, capped by a trio of singles over the next four batters, adding an additional run – a lead they held for the remainder of the contest.
Hopkins added insurance runs in the top of the fifth – all with two outs, via a
Caleb Cyr double and a
Dillon Souvignier two-run, no-doubt-about-it home run. Stevens added a run of his own in the sixth with a solo shot to right field, extending the lead to seven, before the Jays scored another two-out run on a
Shawn Steuerer double.
The Sea Gulls clawed back scoring its second run in the sixth, before
Grant Meert,
Nicolas Jos and
Cole Jefferson hurled three innings of scoreless baseball to secure the victory over seventh-ranked Salisbury.
The Blue Jays are back in action Thursday, March 13 in the first game of the RussMatt Invitational in Florida, taking on Mitchell with first pitch scheduled for 2:45 PM.
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• The Blue Jay offense started slow, having its first six batters retired, before exploding in the third, posting a three-run inning.
• Hopkins scored five of their nine run with two out, via doubles from Cyr and Steuerer and a Souvignier home run.
• Eight of nine starters recorded a hit, with Steuerer, Cyr, Stevens and Siani posting a multi-hit game.
• Rovner moves to 3-0 on the season, recorded 6.0 innings of work, surrendering two runs on six hits, with three punch-outs and a walk. In relief, Meert, Jos and Jefferson threw three scoreless innings to secure the Jays ninth win.
