BALTIMORE, MD – Johns Hopkins graduate student
Kieren Collins had seen and done virtually everything during his Blue Jay career. With multiple trips to the Division III World Series, a school-record 38 wins, more than 300 strikeouts and nearly 400 innings worked to his credit, he'd checked nearly every box imaginable.
In Saturday's Super Regional title game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Collins added the one statistic he didn't already have to his credit – a save.
With the Blue Jays (38-10) leading 11-7 in the top of the ninth, Collins came on in relief with nobody out and a runner at first. Six pitches in, he hit a batter to put the tying run in the on-deck circle and work himself into the first save situation of his career.
He didn't waste it.
Collins struck out the final three Stags of the game – all swinging – to lock down the 11-7 win, Johns Hopkins' second straight and fourth overall Super Regional title and the eighth trip to the Division III World Series in program history.
A trip to the World Series? That seemed to have slipped away as Saturday afternoon drifted into the evening at rain-soaked Stromberg Stadium. But first-year coach
Nate Mulberg's Blue Jays never blinked when an early deficit grew … and grew some more.
Trailing 6-0 entering the bottom of the fifth, the Blue Jays got two men on, sat through a 30-minute rain delay and then punched across seven runs when play resumed to grab an improbable 7-6 lead. The game was never tied again.
A
Damian Brown single when play resumed plated
Clay Hartje to ignite the rally, which included two-run singles from
Lukas Geer and
Hamilton Adams, a run-scoring
William Jaun single and an
Alex Shane bases loaded walk. Six of the seven runs in the inning for the Blue Jays came with two outs.
The one-run lead was in danger in the top of the seventh as the Stags loaded the bases with two outs. Johns Hopkins retired the first two batters, but
Blaise Heher reached on an error,
Josh Jacobs singled to center and
Keegan Cabrera walked. Mulberg turned to senior
Cole Jefferson out of the bullpen, and Jefferson got
Bryce Didrickson to fly out to left to kill the threat.
The one-run lead quickly became three in the bottom of the inning as Shane led off with a single, Jaun doubled him to third and Geer followed with a two-run double down the line in left to extend the cushion to 9-6.
Claremont (36-16) got one back in the eighth on a leadoff home run from national home run leader
Alex Henderson, but Jefferson retired the next three batters to maintain the two-run lead.
After another rain delay – this one a 43-minute stoppage – the Blue Jays tacked on a pair of insurance runs on the strength of a bases loaded hit by pitch and a Geer sacrifice fly that pushed the lead to 11-7.
Three outs – and the first save of Collins' career - later and the Blue Jays had booked their return trip to Eastlake, Ohio, site of the Division III World Series starting next Friday (May 29).
Early on, the Stags plated a run in the top of the first without the benefit of a hit and then put up three in the more in the second to jump out to an early 4-0 lead. Henderson hit a two-run home run and
Rider Gordon took the next pitch to virtually the exact same spot in left center to account for the three-run inning.
The Blue Jays appeared that they would avoid any damage in the top half of the third inning as Geer nailed
Max Pemberton at the plate with a great throw from left field, but Hartje was called for blocking the plate and the run counted to extend the cushion to five.
While the Stags got going early offensively, they also got a strong start on the mound from
Kody Perry, who didn't allow a hit in three scoreless innings one day after throwing 92 pitches in game one of the Super Regional series.
Perry turned things over to the bullpen after his three spotless innings of work. Less than two innings and one rain delay later and the Blue Jays had a lead they would never relinquish.
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• This is the first rally from a six-run deficit for Johns Hopkins since March 24, 2023, when the Blue Jays rallied from a 6-0 deficit to top Williams, 19-11.
• JHU has won each of the four Super Regionals it has hosted since the NCAA added the round to the tournament in 2019 (2019, 2023, 2025, 2026).
• Geer went 2-for-3 with five RBIs and one run scored to lock down tournament MVP honors. He went 6-for-13 with nine RBIs and five runs scored in the three games.
• Jaun and
Luke Baker both went 2-for-5 and Shane reached base in 3-of-5 plate appearances with one hit, a walk and a hit by pitch.
•
Camden Curley worked two innings and allowed two hits and one run to pick up the victory, his first of the season.
• Johns Hopkins used six pitchers in the game. The final four of those six – Curley,
Gavin Simurdiak, Jefferson and Collins – combined to pitch 6.0 innings and allowed just five hits and two runs.
Gallery: (5-23-2026) Baseball v. CMS (NCAA Super Regional G3)
