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Baseball Weekly Notes
April 22, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Results: The Blue Jays have won six consecutive games, including an 8-1 win against McDaniel on Monday, to improve to 23-4 overall and 10-2 in the Centennial Conference. Hopkins scored a school-record 32 runs as the team began last week with a 32-2 win over Washington. JHU then defeated McDaniel 15-3 on the road, topped Villa Julie 10-5 in a non-conference home game, and swept a CC doubleheader over Haverford (10-0, 2-1).
Up Next: The Blue Jays' doubleheader against Ursinus scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed due to inclement weather. JHU's home game versus Gwynedd-Mercy on Wednesday has also been postponed due to a scheduling conflict for Gwynedd-Mercy. Hopkins returns to action Thursday as the Blue Jays host Washington College at 3:30 p.m. JHU is then scheduled to host Muhlenberg in a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and Gettysburg in a single game on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
The Coach: Bob Babb is in his 24th season as head coach of the Blue Jay baseball. Babb, who is the all-time winningest men's baseball coach in JHU history, sports a 638-244-8 (.721) record. Last season, Babb became the 14th active Division III head coach with 600 wins as JHU defeated Franklin & Marshall, 4-1, on April 6. Under Babb's guidance, Hopkins has captured 10 Middle Atlantic Conference Southeast League titles, seven UAA titles, five Centennial Conference Championships, and made 10 appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Team & Player Notes
* Winning Ways: Hopkins is off to another exceptional start with a 23-4 record through 27 games. Including this year, the Blue Jays have posted a 398-148-1 (.728) record since the start of the 1990 season. In that time, JHU has won five Centennial titles and reached the NCAA Tournament seven times. The Blue Jays need just two wins to reach 25 wins for the 12th consecutive season and have not had a losing season in 23 years under coach Babb.
* Strength in Numbers: Through the first 27 games, JHU has displayed its depth with 23 players seeing time in the field and 11 pitchers taking the mound. Twenty-one players have recorded at least one RBI, while 21 players have scored a run and 22 players have tallied at least one hit. Eight pitchers have started a game this year and 10 pitchers have made at least four appearances.
* Scoring in Bunches: The Blue Jays have scored 265 runs in the team's first 27 games for an average of 9.81 runs per game. Hopkins has scored 10 runs or more in 13 games, including a school-record 32 runs in a 32-2 win against Washington last week. The Blue Jays also scored 23 runs against Swarthmore in a 23-8 on April 6. JHU has scored at least four runs in an inning on 21 occasions. Last season, the Blue Jays averaged 9.09 runs in 44 games for a total of 400 runs.
* Winning Big: Hopkins has won 13 games by seven runs or more this season and is outscoring opponents by an average margin of 6.37 runs per game. Last season, JHU won a total of 14 games by seven runs or more.
* Power Surge: JHU has hit 46 home runs in the first 27 games for an average of 1.70 home runs per game. If the team maintains the current pace over the final nine regular season games, the Blue Jays would finish with a school-record 61 home runs. Hopkins set the school mark with 57 home runs in 44 games a year ago. Sophomore Paul Winterling leads the team with 10 home runs, while sophomore Mike Durgala is second with eight home runs.
* Clutch Hitting: Hopkins is hitting .361 (126-for-349) with runners in scoring position and .373 (174-for-467) with runners on base. Blue Jay pitchers have limited opponents to just a .210 combined average with runners on base. Paul Winterling has .442 (19-for-43) with runners in scoring position, while junior Bryan Eberle has hit .562 (9-for-16) and Mike Durgala is hitting .433 (13-for-30) with runners in scoring position.
* Streaking: The Blue Jays are currently riding a six-game winning streak since dropping a doubleheader at Franklin & Marshall on April 12. Hopkins also has two eight-game winning streaks this season and has posted nine winning streaks of five games or more since the start of the 2001 season. JHU won 10 consecutive games at one point last season, while the school record for consecutive wins is 18 set by the 1989 team.
* Centennial Dominance: With its 10-2 record through 12 Centennial Conference games, Hopkins has improved to 135-38 (.780) all-time in conference games, which is tops in the league. The Blue Jays are 39-9 (.812) in Centennial contests since the start of the 2001 season.
* Record-Breaking Performance: In Hopkins' 32-2 win over Washington College, the Blue Jays set a school record for runs in a game and tied the NCAA Division III record for grand slams, while Paul Winterling tied one NCAA mark and fell just shy of another. Winterling tied the NCAA record with two grand slams in one game and totaled 11 runs batted in, just one RBI shy of the record. Bryan Eberle added a grand slam as JHU became just the second school in Division III to hit three grand slams in a game. Winterling also hit a three-run home run as the Blue Jays belted eight home runs in the game.
* Berger and Winterling Earn Centennial Weekly Honors: Paul Winterling was named Centennial Player-of-the-Week and junior Russ Berger earned co-conference Pitcher-of-the-Week honors for their performances last week, the league announced Monday.
Winterling was 7-for-19 (.368) with 10 runs, four home runs and 15 runs batted in. In addition to his performance against Washington College, he hit a two-run home run versus McDaniel in a 15-3 win and drove in the game-winning run against Haverford in a 2-1 win.
Berger went 2-0 as he allowed just two earned runs over 13 innings in two starts. He gave up two runs and struck out six in six innings against Washington and improved to 5-0 on the year with a two-hit shutout, the second of his career, versus Haverford in a 10-0 win.
* Winterling Having Breakout Year: Paul Winterling is having a tremendous season as he leads the Blue Jays in nearly every major offensive category. He is hitting .407 with 33 hits in 81 at-bats and is tops on the team in runs (33), hits (33), doubles (9), home runs (10), total bases (74) and slugging percentage (.914). Winterling is also 7-for-7 on stolen bases and is third on the team with 10 walks. His 10 home runs already rank fifth on the JHU single season list.
* Cieri Leads the Way: Senior Jay Cieri has been one of JHU's top hitters this season from the leadoff spot. He leads the team in walks (21) and on-base percentage (.570), while ranking second with 27 runs scored. Cieri, who is batting .403 with 25 hits in 62 at-bats, has also hit three home runs and totaled 14 RBIs. Last season, Cieri walked 30 times, just six walks shy of the school single-season record, and posted a team-best .508 on-base percentage.
*Durgala Solid in Cleanup Spot: After a sensational freshman season, sophomore Mike Durgala is having another outstanding campaign. He is hitting .361 with 26 hits in 72 at-bats and is second on the team with eight home runs and 27 runs batted in. Durgala, who has been hit by a pitch a team-high nine times this season, is also third on the team with 25 runs scored and has a .764 slugging percentage.
* Pitching Staff Continues to Shine: Blue Jay pitchers have combined to allow just 16 runs in the last eight games to lower the team's combined ERA to 3.28. JHU has struck out 214 batters in 208.2 innings while allowing just 166 hits. Eight of JHU's 10 pitchers that have seen action in four or more contests have an ERA of 3.95 or lower. Senior Jeremy Brown struck out a career-high 14 batters as Hopkins defeated McDaniel, 8-1, on Monday and leads the team with 49 strikeouts. The Blue Jays have four shutouts after posting three all of last season.
* Quick Notes: - Junior Bryan Eberle is hitting a career-high .457 (16-for-35), has three home runs and is fourth on the team with 15 runs batted in. Two of his three home runs have been grand slams.
- Junior Tim Casale has hit safely in his last six games and is hitting .450 (9-for-20) with five runs and five RBIs during that time. Casale also hit his first career home run in JHU's 10-5 win over Villa Julie.
- Junior Brian Morley has a seven-game hitting streak and has batted .615 (8-for-13) with six runs during the streak.
- Freshman Gary Rosenberg has a hit in six of his last eight at-bats to raise his average to a team-best .533 (16-for-30). He was 4-for-4 against Villa Julie last week.
- Junior Matt Righter has not allowed a run in three straight appearances, a span of eight innings, while sophomore Jason Hochfelder has not allowed a run in four consecutive appearances.
- With a 5-0 record this season, junior Russ Berger has improved to 14-4 for his career and ranks ninth on JHU's all-time winning percentage list with a .777 career winning percentage.
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