Baseball beats top two teams over the weekend

The Hopkins men’s baseball team rallied late in both games last Sunday to earn victories against the first-ranked Cortland State Red Dragons and the second-ranked Keystone Giants.

“We were definitely happy to get two wins against two quality opponents. We played hard and didn’t give up after going down in both games,” junior third baseman Mike Smith said.

Hopkins faced off against the Red Dragons first but quickly fell behind 3-0 after five innings. The Jays bounced back in the sixth inning when senior catcher Ryan Orgielewicz hit an infield single to score a run. The Blue Jays followed with a bases-loaded walk, nearly tying up the game at 3-2.

The Red Dragons scored an unearned run at the top of the seventh inning, giving them a two-run lead. Despite the lead, Hopkins responded quickly. Freshman infielder Dillon Bowman hit a bases-loaded single to ignite a two-run rally, which tied up the game at four.

Grabbing their final lead, the Red Dragons scored a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning, making the score 5-4. The one-run deficit did not stop the Blue Jays. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Smith blasted a walk-off, two-run home run to take down top-ranked Cortland State.

“I was surprised the ball went out,” Smith said. “On a cold, windy day, I was just trying to get something to the outfield to get the run in. I was at a loss for words.”

After a quick 30-minute turnaround, Hopkins came back onto the field to take on Keystone. The Jays, similar to their last game, gave up three runs within the first two innings.

But Hopkins got themselves on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second when Smith, with the help of an error and senior outfielder TJ Gordon’s two-out single, reached home to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Giants responded with three more runs within the next two innings, expanding their lead to 6-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. The Giants went scoreless in the top of the fifth, with senior outfielder Brian Lin making three straight catches in right field for the Blue Jays.

Hopkins fought back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut Keystone’s lead to 6-3. First, with senior shortstop Conor Reynolds and Bowman on base, Smith hit a single to send Reynolds home. Next, freshman second baseman Mike Eberle singled for his first career RBI to score Bowman.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Jays tied up the game at 6-6 after a walk, an error and a Blue Jay hit.

Sophomore pitcher Sean McCracken struck out a Giants batter and earned a pair of ground outs to close out the top of the seventh inning and keep the Giants from scoring. In the bottom of the seventh, Hopkins once again loaded the bases.

Orgielewicz hit a ground out but gave Lin just enough time to slide into home, pushing the Jays in front 7-6.

“There were two standout defensive plays while I was pitching by Smith and Reynolds, where they both had to charge in and were able to get the guys out by just a hair on both plays,” McCracken said.

The game was called at the bottom of the seventh inning for darkness, handing the Jays the 7-6 victory over the second-ranked Giants.

“I thought it was great to see us persevere and never give up, which is something that is often easy [to do] in a baseball game, especially when you are losing, but we never had the feeling we were out of the game,” McCracken said.

Despite the impressive rankings of the Red Dragons and the Giants, the Blue Jays approached the doubleheader the same way as they would any other game.

“Our mindset was the same as any game day. Go out there and execute and perform. It doesn’t matter who is in the other dugout,” Smith said.

With a promising start to their season, the Jays are motivated to reach their goal of winning the College World Series.

“These wins were huge for our team. Finally getting over the hump and beating top level teams was something we haven’t been able to do in years past. There’s still plenty of things to work on and areas to improve in, and we will have to focus on those going forward,” Smith said.

Hopkins returns to Stromberg Stadium to face off against Case Western Reserve University in a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 11.