In a week in which rain outs were more prevalent than actual games, the Blue Jays swept a double header against Ursinus and improved their overall record to 28-5.
The most recent 2002 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Division III poll, which came out before Tuesday's games, has Hopkins tied for No. 8 in the nation with Salisbury College.
In response to the rankings, Head Coach Bob Babb said, "That doesn't mean a thing. It's where you end up at the end of the year. It's certainly nice, but really, it doesn't mean much right now."
After the entire weekend's schedule was postponed due to the weather, the Blue Jays took the field Tuesday against Ursinus for the first time in a week.
Junior starter Jeremy Brown pitched a hitless first inning while the Blue Jays offense got going in the bottom half of the frame.
Junior left fielder Jay Cieri blasted his fifth home run of the season, a solo shot, with one out.
After singles by sophomore shortstop Carl Ippolito and senior first baseman Ben Taylor, sophomore Craig Cetta lined a two-out, two RBI single, giving the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.
Hopkins never looked back. Brown pitched a complete game four-hitter, allowing only one earned run, on a sacrifice fly in the third inning. The offense tacked on three more insurance runs in the fourth.
Cetta led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by senior third baseman John Krivonak.
Two batters later, senior second baseman Karl Sineath singled home Cetta.
On the play, Krivonack got caught up in a run down trying to score, but managed to hang in long enough for Sineath to advance to second.
Cieri walked, and then Ippolito hit a bases-clearing triple to cap the Blue Jays' scoring. The final score was 6-1.
The second game of the doubleheader featured an intense pitching duel as senior starter Yani Rosenberg matched up against Ursinus' Michael Lombardo.
Lone runs in the second and fourth innings were all that the Blue Jays could manage, as Lombardo was able to hold their explosive offense in check.
Meanwhile, Rosenberg scattered five hits over seven strong innings, and recorded his team leading seventh win of the season, allowing only one unearned run.
In the victory, Rosenberg moved to within one of the Hopkins all time career record of strikeouts. Steve Hand (1979-83) holds the mark with 241 career punch outs. Also, Rosenberg (7-0 on the season) currently has the second longest win streak in school history, having won his last 15 decisions.
Despite his team's success, Head Coach Bob Babb was still not impressed. "We didn't play well. We seemed rusty," Coach Babb remarked, "but I guess its better to play poorly and win than to lose playing well."
The Jays also won on Wednesday, in a game against Gettysburg that they dominated and went on to win by the score of 22-4, on the road in Pennsylvania.
Russ Berger pitched six innings, giving up four runs, only one of which was earned, on five hits to earn the victory. He improved his record to 4-0 on the year.
For Gettysburg, Joe Gossweiler got the loss after giving up four hits and six earned runs in the first inning. He was eventually pulled from the game during that inning before he even registered his first out.
Hopkins displayed more of the powerful offense they have had all season early in the game and they never looked back.
The Jays managed to score six runs in the first inning alone, and then two in the second and one in the third before Gettysburg got on the scoreboard with their first run of the afternoon.
But soon after, the Jays began another offensive explosion in which they scored nine runs to put themselves in a commanding lead by the score of 18-2.
Sophomore shortstop Carl Ippolito was a hero of sorts, as he got four hits on the day and knocked in three RBI's.
The Jays will continue their grueling schedule on Thursday as they will travel to York, Pa. to take on York College.
The game will mark their fourth game in the last three days.
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