With spring vastly approaching, it can only mean one thing: Johns Hopkins University baseball is back and ready to dominate the field once again. The sixth-ranked Blue Jays are off to a terrific start thus far, having won their first three games decisively.
In the first contest, which took place last Friday against Messiah, senior Brian Morley and junior Paul Long, each went two for three with two runs scored apiece. Senior right-hander Jeremy Brown picked up the victory after allowing one run and one hit in three innings. Senior right-handed pitcher Sven Stafford pitched out the ninth inning for the save.
This past Sunday marked the first doubleheader of the season, as the Blue Jays faced off against SUNY-New Paltz. The Blue Jays outscored the Hawks 11-1 in the first game, and 10-5 in the nightcap.
Senior catcher Doug Hitchner had a stellar performance in the first game, going three for four with two doubles for the Jays. Junior Paul Long, who was named Centennial Baseball Player of the Week, began the scoring in the first game when he singled, stole second and then scored on a single to right field by senior Carl Ippolito.
SUNY-New Paltz was able to get one run across in the third; however, Hopkins answered with one-run fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take a 5-1 lead.
The Jays augmented their lead by scoring six runs in the eighth inning. Hitncher began the onslaught by doubling to left and scoring on a single to the left by sophomore Corey Gleason, who advanced to third due to an error. Gleason later scored on Winterling's single to the same side.
The next batter, junior Eric Nigro smashed a two-run homer, deep over the fence. Freshman Rob Sanzillo rounded out the scoring, with an RBI double. Sanzillo, the only freshman to see time in the game, will serve as a backup to Hitncher, a four-year starter.
Long capped an impressive week with his two-for-three performance, which included a run scored, an RBI and a walk in Friday's win over Messiah. Long batted three-for-five with two runs scored and an RBI in the 11-1 win in the first game of the doubleheader and later entered the second game as a pinch runner for junior Brian Harris. Long stole second and scored the winning run on a single by senior Tim Casale. Long leads the Jays with his five hits and five runs and currently has a stellar .625 batting average.
Senior Russ Berger allowed one run on five hits in the first three innings to pick up the victory for the Blue Jays. Sophomore Jim Flannery and junior Ryan McConnell each threw two scoreless innings, while junior Jason Hochfelder and Brown each posted scoreless innings themselves.
Junior David Montegari was the story in the second game, as his pure power at the plate provided the crowd with two impressive home runs. The first homer, a two-run shot, came in the second inning and was Montegari's first inside the park home run of his career. The second homer was a blast hit over the leftfield fence, which was hit so hard that it managed to make it to the lacrosse field.
Harris scored later in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by junior Gary Rosenberg. The Jays were able to hold their lead until the fourth when senior Adam Josephart allowed three runs. SUNY-NP took its first lead of the game in the top of the sixth inning. Despite this, Hopkins responded with six runs in the bottom of the frame to put the game out of reach.
Sophomore Andrew Bail struck out the only batter he faced in the sixth inning and got the win for the Jays.
The Blue Jays face Suffolk on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Clearwater, Fla. in the opening game of their spring break Florida trip.
Hopkins is currently ranked 17th in the most recent Division III Baseball poll. A heavy favorite to win the Centennial Conference this season, the Jays are hoping to make a serious run at the NCAA Division III College Baseball World Series later on this spring.
With a solid core of veterans pitchers and position players returning from last year's successful squad, this seems to be an attainable goal.
Brown, who is currently a grad student, was the Centennial Conference pitcher of the year in 2003.
