May 5, 2007

Box Score

LANCASTER, PA - Junior DH Tony Margve had a double to score junior first baseman Matt Benchener in the 10th inning and lift the #16 Johns Hopkins baseball team over Gettysburg 8-7 in Centennial Conference Tournament play on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Jays (32-9) will now face Ursinus on Sunday afternoon for the Centennial Conference Championship.

The Blue Jays jumped on Gettysburg starter Will Kleva for two runs in the top of the first inning. Junior shortstop Jonas Fester reached on a one-out single and senior catcher Rob Sanzillo reached via an error to put two men on. Junior center fielder Rob Pietroforte drove a triple to right field that scored both runners. The triple was Pietroforte's seventh of the season and ties the JHU single season record for triples. Hopkins expanded its lead to 3-0 in the third as Sanzillo and Pietroforte opened the inning with back to back singles. After a fielder's choice that got the lead runner Sanzillo at third, junior third baseman Nate Adelman had a groundout that scored Pietroforte.

Gettysburg slowly started to creep back into this game as the Bullets tallied a single run in the bottom of the third. Hopkins answered Gettysburg's run with a run of its own in the top of the fourth. Junior left fielder Jon Solomon singled home senior second baseman Ian Christie.

The Bullets tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. In the inning Ben Carey and Mike Backus had RBI singles while Brian Pernice produced a sacrifice fly. Gettysburg took its first lead of the game in the sixth as Backus had a sacrifice fly to score Pernice.

Hopkins tied the game in the top of the seventh as Sanzillo reached on a single and scored on Pietroforte's base knock. The Blue Jays took the lead back in the top of the eighth as Benchener led off with a deep home run to left field. Gettysburg then tied the game with a run in the bottom half of the inning.

Hopkins took the lead back in the top of the ninth as with two outs, senior right fielder Brett Izzo doubled and scored when Adelman reached via an error. Gettysburg was not done yet as the first two Bullets reached base in the ninth via a pair of walks. After a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, Gettysburg got a run to tie the game on a sacrifice fly.

In the 10th, Benchener led off a single up the middle and was advanced to second on Christie's sacrifice bunt. Margve the came through with the clutch double to score Benchener with the go-ahead run. Junior Ryan Kealy shut down the Bullets in the bottom of the 10th to give the Blue Jays' the win.

Junior Brian Duddie started for the Blue Jays and threw eight strong innings allowing 12 hits and six runs. Two of Duddie's six runs were earned as he struck out five. Kealy threw two innings of scoreless baseball to pick up his second win of the year. Derek Zaleski took the loss as he went 2.2 innings of relief work and allowed two runs.

Pietroforte was 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs and a run scored while Izzo was 3-for-5 with a run scored. Benchener was 2-for-5 with the home run and two RBIs on the day while Sanzillo, Christie and Fester all picked up two hits on the day.

Hopkins returns to action on Sunday, May 6th versus Ursinus for the Centennial Conference Championship. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m. since the tournament is double-elimination, the Blue Jays must win two to capture the title.

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