The Hopkins baseball team took down Swarthmore twice on Saturday by a combined score of 14-1, to improve to a record of 26-2 overall and 9-0 in Centennial Conference play. Junior Tyler Goldstein was lights out for the Jays in game one, striking out nine batters and walking zero in a complete game effort. After a relatively quiet first three innings, the Jays’ bats came to life in the top of the fourth, as seniors Ryan Zakszeski and Adam Weiner each drove in a run. Weiner came through again in the sixth inning, driving in senior Chris Wilhelm. Sophomore Craig Hoelzer followed up Weiner’s single with one of his own, scoring Zakszeski.
In game two of the double header, sophomore pitcher Jacob Enterlin followed up Goldstein’s stellar performance with a gem of his own. Enterlin, who had a perfect game through six and two thirds innings, struck out five and gave up one hit in seven and a third innings of work. Enterlin, who recorded his sixth victory of the year, credited his consistency as the main factor of his impressive season.
“I think a big part of my success this year has come from throwing strikes and staying low in the zone with all of my pitches,” Enterlin said. “I’ve been getting a lot of ground outs early in the count, which leads to less pitches and allows me to go deeper into games.”
Hopkins hitters put on a power display in game two, as sophomore Colin McCarthy, senior Jeff Lynch and Zakszeski each hit home runs. McCarthy and Zakszeski led the Jays’ with three RBIs each, as Hopkins cruised to a 10-0 victory.
The Jays went right back to work on Sunday in a matchup with McDaniel, another Centennial Conference opponent. Wilhelm led the charge offensively for Hopkins, going two-for-three with three RBIs. Hopkins’ starting pitching continued to impress, as freshman Carter Burns allowed only one run in seven innings pitched. Hopkins held a slim two run lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but that soon changed as the Jays went on a seven run tear, which included RBIs off the bats of Zakszeski, senior Chris Vonderschmidt and sophomore Chris Casey. The 10-1 victory improved the team ERA to 2.39 and gave the Jays their nineteenth consecutive victory.
The Jays were able to keep the win streak going on Monday, as they edged out Widener in a 20-15 slugfest. Lynch hit two bombs for Hopkins, and Wilhelm added another to bring his season total to seven. The 20 runs on 20 hits were able give the Jays the win, despite some struggle on the mound. Junior relief pitcher Zach Augustine recorded his first win of the year.
After the winning streak had reached an unprecedented 20 games in a row, the Jays fell in a heartbreaker to Gettysburg, 8-7 on Tuesday. The two teams traded leads all afternoon until the Bullets gained a lead that the Jays were unable to overcome. Although the loss was difficult to take, the team is still optimistic and focused on having a short memory moving forward through the rest of the season. Lynch credited recent success to the team’s determination.
“We’ve just shown up everyday with the will to get better. Our team motto has become “stay hungry,” which essentially means don’t get complacent or comfortable, because winning streaks and rankings don’t mean anything in April if we don’t win in May,” Lynch said.
After a disappointing finish last year, the Jays know there is always room for more improvement.
“We need to work on some mental aspects of the game, which comes with increased focus,” Lynch said, explaining the team’s shortcomings. “We need to understand how certain pitchers are going to try and get us out, which will help us produce more quality at bats game in and game out. We have yet to play our best baseball, which is very encouraging considering the success we have had thus far.”
Enterlin agreed that the Blue Jays still have facets of the game they can work on.
“We need to keep working hard both on and off the field, and most importantly stay hungry,” Enterlin said.
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