Blue Jays take fifth straight title
| Johns Hopkins won its fifth straight Centennial
Conference championship. Johns Hopkins sports information |
Johns Hopkins overcame an early three-run deficit and held on
for a thrilling 10-6 victory over Haverford to secure its fifth
straight Centennial Conference title on Sunday afternoon at the JHU
Baseball Diamond. The Blue Jays (25-11) have now won 12 CC
championships and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament,
while the Fords (32-8) must now wait to see if they garner an
at-large nod into the postseason.
Much of the action took placed in the wild first inning as the two
sides combined for 10 of the game's 16 runs in the opening
frame.
The Fords carried the momentum from an explosive Saturday of the
CC Tournament - in which they pounded out 32 runs in two contests -
into the first frame as they jumped out of the gates to a 3-0
advantage. After junior Jake Chaplin reached first on a
hit-by-pitch, senior Charlie Carluccio blasted a two-run homer to
deep left field and Haverford led 2-0. Senior Louis DeRosa later
sent an RBI single to center and the Fords took the early 3-0
lead.
The Blue Jays, however, would respond with a vengeance as they
went on to tally seven runs in the bottom half of the first to
claim the lead and swipe away any momentum that Haverford gained in
the top of the inning. Junior Mike Miusary was the first of 11 JHU
batters to step to the plate and produced a crucial leadoff double
to the gap in left center, before graduate student Steve Bejsiuk
lined a single to left to put two runners on the base paths.
Graduate student Joe Borrelli followed with an RBI single to
center that scored Musary and the Blue Jays were on the board with
nobody out. With one away, sophomore Jeff Lynch launched a screamer
to left center that sailed over the wall for a three-run homer and
just like JHU claimed the lead, 4-3.
The Fords yanked senior starter Dan Hochberg from the contest
following Lynch's bomb, but Hopkins would go on to cross the plate
thrice more in the frame to take a four-run lead. Sophomore Zach
Small drew a walk, senior Anthony Venditti singled down the third
base line and sophomore Kyle Neverman received a free pass on a
walk and once more the Blue Jays put the pressure on Haverford.
Musary then came through with his second hit of the inning as he
poked a two-out, two-RBI single through the ride side of the
infield and Neverman, who began the play at first, would score on
an errant throw by Haverford right fielder Bobby Bailey that
bounced out of play and Hopkins led 7-3 after one.
In the second JHU scored three more times, all with two outs in
the frame. Lynch reached on a fielder's choice, Small ripped a
double down the left field line and sophomore Ryan Zakszeski
singled through the left side to bring home Lynch for an 8-3
lead.
With the bases full and two put side, Neverman then drew his
second straight walk for an RBI, before a Musary single to third
base allowed Zakszeski to cross home plate and Hopkins took a
seven-run lead.
After a shaky first inning, junior starter Sam Eagleson settled in
to hold the Fords scoreless through the next four innings.
Haverford added on runs in both the sixth and eighth innings to
pull within 10-5 heading into the decisive ninth.
Eagleson remained on the mound to begin the final frame and
retired senior Jeff Butera to leadoff the inning. Galetta kept
Haverford's hopes of a comeback alive with a one-out double to
right center, before junior Jeremy Zoll and Bailey recorded
back-to-back singles, with Bailey's knocking in Butera to bring the
count to 10-6.
With runners on first and second and one away, junior Aaron
Schwartz came to the mound for Hopkins with a chance to close out
the win and earn his first save of the season. Schwartz walked the
first batter he faced, DeRosa, but followed by forcing an outfield
flyout that was well played by Musary in right and the Blue Jays
sat just one out shy of the crown.
Sophomore Matt Liscovitz, the ninth hitter in the Haverford order,
came to the plate representing the tying run and with one swing of
the bat could have knotted the contest at 10-10. With the game on
the line, Liscovitz fouled off several strikes from Schwartz to
work the count to 2-2, but then JHU junior righthander blew a
fastball by him for strike three and the Blue Jays came away with
the win.
Eagleson pitched 8 1/3 innings and picked up the win to move to
5-1, allowing six runs on 12 hits with four strikeouts, while
Hochberg took the loss to fall to 4-1 after pitching just 1/3 of
the opening inning. Freshman Patrick Falkoff shut out Hopkins on
the mound over the final 6 1/3 to keep Haverford in the game, but
his stellar outing was not enough as the Fords fell to JHU in the
finals for the second straight year.
Lynch and Musary paced Hopkins with three RBIs each, with Musary
going 3-for-5 and scoring a run and Lynch posting a 2-for-5 line
with two runs scored. Small also reached home twice for JHU, while
Borrelli, Zakszeski and Neverman also added RBIs.
Carluccio notched two RBIs on two hits, while Zoll, Bailey and
freshman Justin Coulter each added two hits on the day for
Haverford.
