April 19, 2012

Baseball Notes - April 19

A Look Back
Johns Hopkins improved to 21-10-2 on the season and 11-2 in the Centennial after a 4-2 week, last week.
Hopkins opened with a tough 6-1 loss to Gettysburg at the JHU Baseball Diamond last Friday before rebounding to sweep a double header from Ursinus on Saturday.

The Blue Jays took the Scarlet Raiders to 10 innings on Sunday in a non-conference make up against Rutgers-Newark and came out on top with 9-7 victory behind a three-run home from junior Chris Wilhelm.

Hopkins pushed its lead further in the conference with a 3-1 victory over Washington College in Chestertown, MD behind a two-hit effort from senior Sam Eagleson.

The Blue Jays wrapped up the week against non-conference opponent, Montclair State, and fell to the Red Hawks 11-2 at Yogi Berra Stadium.
    
I'm Honored
Senior Aaron Borenstein was named the Catcher of the week on the d3baseball.com's Team of the Week. This is the second-straight week a Blue Jays has earned a spot on this team.

Borenstein paced the Blue Jays at the plate to a 4-1 week in conference action as Hopkins solidified its hold on first place in the conference with a two-game lead on Washington. Borenstein split time behind the plate and at third for the Jays hitting .435 on the week with three doubles and four RBI. The senior had 10 hits and scored four runs while posting a .565 slugging percentage and a .500 on base percentage. Borenstein stole two bases while defensively, he turned a double play and caught two runners stealing while behind the dish.

Bombs Away
The Blue Jays are leading the Centennial Conference with 21 home runs as a team this season while juniors Mike Kanen and Jeff Lynch lead the Blue Jays with four each. Kanen hit his first career home run in the Blue Jays' opening game against Alvernia. Kanen went deep again in the very next game against Messiah.  This past week, Kanen knocked a ball over the fence down the right field line in the second game of the double header against Swarthmore and put the Blue Jays up 2-1 over Gettysburg with a home run to right center on Tuesday.

Three of Lynch's four-baggers have come against Centennial opponents, including taking Washington College ace Shane Mattingly deep for just his second surrendered home run of the season.

Juniors Kyle Neverman and sophomore Mike Denlinger each have three four-baggers on the year while juniors Ryan Zakszeski and Chris Wilhelm each have two. Seniors Aaron Borenstein, Scott Barrett and J.R. Santaniello round out the home run club with one each.  

Final Punch Out
Of the Blue Jays' 21 wins this season, 10 of the games have ended on a final strikeout.

Senior Aaron Schwartz polished off a scoreless eighth and ninth against Gettysburg on Tuesday getting Pat Cody to swing through the last strike with a runner on third to put the game in the books for the Blue Jays.  

First to Score
The Blue Jays have scored first in 24 of their 33 game so far this season and boast a 17-6-1 record in those games. Hopkins has out-scored opponents 69-23 in the first two innings and is 11-5-1 when scoring in the first inning.

Off to the Races
The Blue Jays are 74-87 stealing bases on the season with 19 different players recording at least one stolen base.

Top swiper for the Blue Jays is junior Kyle Neverman who is 17-for-18 stealing bags while classmate Jeff Lynch is a perfect 6-for-6 and sophomore Mike Denlinger is 6-for-7 on the base paths.

Lynch and junior Ryan Zakszeski completed a successful double-steal of second and home with Lynch scoring in the Blue Jays' 11-5 victory over Gettysburg on Tuesday.

Senior Matt Ricci and Neverman completed the successful double steal as well for the Blue Jays in Hopkins' 6-1 win over Ursinus in the second game of the double header.
 
The Blue Jays stole a season-high seven bases in the second game of the double header against Wesleyan.

As successful as Hopkins has been on the base paths, its pitchers have been equally successful keeping runners close. Opponents are just 29-43 stealing bases on the Blue Jays this season. Zakszeski has caught a team-high eight runners trying to swipe a bag while senior Aaron Borenstein is close behind with seven.

Catch Them Leaning
As a pitching staff, the Blue Jays have picked off 10 runners with senior Alex Eliopoulos leading the way with four. Eliopoulos is second in the conference in pick offs. In the conference opener against Dickinson, Eliopoulos caught speedy senior Andrew Sterling taking too big of a lead in the third to erase a lead-off single.

Climbing the Ranks
Senior hurler Alex Eliopoulos has collected 64 strikeouts so far this season to move into fifth all-time on the JHU strikeout list with 206 career K's.

Senior closer Aaron Schwartz earned his sixth save of the season in the first game of a doubleheader against Ursinus to give him eight in his career. Schwartz has sole possession of third on both the career and single season pitching lists for JHU.

Finishing What You Started
Senior Sam Eagleson and sophomore Tyler Goldstein each went the distance in their stats this past week for the Blue Jays.

Goldstein threw all nine in the second game against Ursinus on Saturday, holding the Bears to just one run on seven hits while striking out a career-high five batters in Hopkins' 6-1 victory. This was Goldstein's first complete game as a Blue Jays.

Eagleson threw a two-hitter against Washington College last Tuesday. Eagleson had span of 15 batters where he started the at-bat with a first pitch strike from the fourth through the eighth inning and only once did he allow more than one runner on the base paths. Eagleson struck out a season-high eight batters in his ninth career complete game.

Senior Alex Eliopoulos threw the first complete game of the season for the Blue Jays as he went nine strong innings to lead Hopkins to a 3-2 victory in its conference opener against Dickinson. Over the nine innings, Eliopoulos give up just two unearned runs on six hits and four walks. The right-hander fanned 11 Red Devils.

His 11 strikeouts ties his career record for K's in a complete game while coming in just one under his record for strikeouts in a  game - he fanned 12 in the 2010 regional game against Kean.

Eliopoulos now has six complete games in his career as a Blue Jay and six games in which the right-hander hit double-digit strikeouts.

Leading the Way
Junior Kyle Neverman leads the Blue Jays with 17 multi-hit games while classmate Mike Kanen has 16 and senior Aaron Borenstein has 11.

Neverman, senior Scott Barrett, junior Jeff Lynch and sophomore Mike Denlinger each have driven in four runs in a game while Kanen and Lynch each have seven multi-RBI games.

Neverman leads the CC with four sacrifice flies so far this season.

Senior pitcher Alex Eliopoulos leads the Blue Jays and is second in the Centennial with 64 strikeouts on the season. Sophomore Tyler Goldstein is tied for second for walks allowing, handing out just seven free passes on the season in 37 innings of work.

Roll a Pair
The Blue Jays are currently ranked ninth in the nation in double plays having turned 36 this season. The Blue Jays turned a season-high three against McDaniel on April 3.

Junior Kyle Neverman has fielded a team-high 25 DPs while classmate has been apart of 24.

There's No Crying in Baseball
But there is tying. The Blue Jays opened the 2012 campaign with a 7-7 tie of Alvernia. The knotted score marks the first time since 1947 that the Jays opened the season with a tie and the 25th time in school history and 11th time under head coach Bob Babb.

The Blue Jays posted their second tie of the season when they traveled to crosstown rival, Stevenson. Hopkins led 6-5 going into the bottom of the ninth and after giving up a run, the game was called for darkness and ended with a 6-6 tie.

Looking Ahead
The Blue Jays complete their home-and-home series with Washington College on Friday when they host the Shoremen at the JHU Baseball Diamond. The Blue Jays hold a 77-32 all time series lead and have won 30 of the last 31 games against Washington College, including their 3-1 win earlier this week.

Hopkins will then travel to Allentown, PA to face Muhlenberg in a conference double header on Saturdays. The Jays hold a 31-13 series lead over the Mules and have won the last five meetings between the two teams.
 
In the Polls
The Blue Jays were selected to finish atop the Centennial Conference this season in a poll of the conference coaches. The Blue Jays are receiving votes in the latest ABCA Coaches poll.
    
Oh Captain, My Captain
Seniors Aaron Borenstein, Sam Eagleson, Alex Eliopoulos and Blake Platt were serve as the captains for the 2012 season.

At the Helm
Head coach Bob Babb is now in his 33rd season at the helm of the Blue Jays' baseball program. Babb has guided Hopkins to five straight Centennial Conference titles and 18 trips to the NCAA Tournament in his at JHU, including trips to the College World Series in 1989, 2008 and 2010.